Realization: Foxface's Story
by Sgarnett99
Summary: What was I to Katniss? A quick, clever girl placed in unfortunate circumstances. Nobody knew me. I don't have a problem with that. But fine, if you really care, this is my story. T for violence. The Hunger Games belongs to Suzanne Collins. NOW COMPLETE!
1. Reaping

**A/N: So now I've deleted my other Foxface story (the alternate ending one, where she wins) and I'm starting this. In this one, though, she dies like she does in The Hunger Games. I kept the name- Riona (Rio) Drew, because I liked it, I just didn't like everything else. Also, I'm writing this under the assumption that District 5 does the science and mutts and stuff. So, without further ado...ladies and gentlemen, let the 74****th**** Hunger Games begin! **

**Ps-I don't own The Hunger Games, or its characters, or its brilliant (love that word) ideas...**

I walk up next to him. He doesn't notice me at all; he just puts some food in his basket and looks around for whatever else he needs from the store. Before he gets a chance to move, I slip my hand into his pocket and pull out some spare coins. Then I push past him, my red mane of hair brushing his elbow. He didn't even notice.

Huh. Maybe I will live, after all. If all stealing is this easy.

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I wake up and look around, seeing the cots in rows. Most girls are still asleep but some sit nervously, anticipating the reaping, and others toss and turn, muttering things in their sleep. I lie on my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Oh. Wait. You might think I'm in the community home right now, but I'm not. District 5 does the science and creates muttations, more commonly known as mutts, for the Capitol. At the age of sixteen, you go into training for mutt science, and when you're seventeen- like me- if you're smart enough, you go live with some other brains and help create new types of mutts. You're given small amounts of tesserae grain, a bed, a small daily wage, and clothing in exchange for working in a lab ten hours per day, fiddling with DNA and genes and such. It's ideal for someone like me, who has no parents and an exceptional IQ level.

The food isn't enough to totally feed you though and neither is the meager payment they give you, so I resort to stealing. Not ideal, but it works just fine for me. I only steal from the rich people anyways. They won't notice if a few coins go missing. They won't spot my sly face and red hair as I slink through the crowds of people. They never do.

But, back to present; a bell rings and we all climb out of bed, start getting dressed and doing our hair in the little mirrors on the dressers. My hair always goes back with an elastic band- no need for anything fancy, as I'm working in a lab- but today, I actually brush it out and let it fall over my left shoulder. I pull on a short sleeved white dress and a pair of black sandals. I don't care for the clothes, but I have to wear them for the reaping. Wouldn't want to look bad in the Capitol where I'm being prepared for murder. We all shuffle down the stairs into the commons room and our instructor informs us that we have a day off, since the reaping starts at ten-thirty and it's already seven. I leave in search of someone to pickpocket.

I end up just taking some raspberries from a lady's bag as she shops; not my best stealing, but it'll do. I go off to the edge of town and eat them in peace, where no one will find me. I hope. I don`t have any desire to talk to anyone at the moment.

At ten, I stand up, brush the dirt off my dress, and walk over to the town square. There are already people milling around, signing in and getting into the section for their age group. I go over to a peacekeeper and give him my name. "Riona Drew," I say.

"Ah. Rio. This way, please." How does he know my name? I guess I have a bad reputation in the district, for stealing and all, but I've never been caught in the act and so I can't be punished. _Hah, _I think, not sure why I feel smug. I guess it's because I'm just too clever for the law enforcers. The peacekeeper points towards the section for seventeen year olds, which is close to the front. We're standing in front of the Justice Building, waiting for our escort to arrive. She gets on my nerves. It must be something about the bright pink skin- and that's coming from someone with no interest in clothes or fashion whatsoever- or maybe the way it looks with her bright green afro- type hair. Oh, and did I mention the accent? Ugh, the horrors of the Capitol accent.

When the escort- Moline- arrives, our mayor steps up to the podium and starts the yearly speech on Panem's history. I listened to it, as well as the treaty of treason, the first few years to see if there was any valuable information there, but I realized the speech never changed and now I tune it out. In fact, the mayor even reads from the same paper, because there's the telltale rip on the bottom right side and the coffee spill in the top of the page. I come back into focus as Moline skips- literally; ugh, why is she always so happy? I guess she's just all excited to see which two kids are being sent to death this year- onto the stage and grins, revealing a mouth of obviously bleached teeth. "Hellooooo, District five! Are you ready to see who this year's tributes will be?" She doesn't wait for an answer. "Alright then, let's do the girls first!" She shoves her hand in the glass bowl and digs around for a long time.

I don't bother crossing my fingers for my safety- please, it doesn't work- but I do hope that I don't have to go to the arena. Actually, death might not be so bad, if it wasn't painful. I think it's the being in the Capitol bit that I couldn't stand.

As she's pulling out the paper, I'm honest with myself. Okay, so I don't want to go to the arena. Sue me.

"Riona Drew!"

At first I feel sort of like the wind has been knocked out of me, like I can't breathe, but I'm already thinking ahead to the arena. I won't get sponsors by looking scared. Definitely not. So I put on a bored yet still confident face and stride up to the stage like I own the place. All eyes are on me. I mount the stage and give the audience a death glare, because they're all staring and I want them to stop. Fortunately, their attention is averted by Moline, who says, "Any volunteers?" Of course there aren't. I want to smirk right now.

"Alright then!" She says. "Let's choose our boy tribute now!"

She pulls out a name and reads it off. "Timothy Corden, you're the boy tribute this year! Come on up!"

I don't recognize the name. Timothy Corden isn't very hard to find, though. His face is drained of colour and his eyes are the size of dinner plates. Someone, I guess a friend, gives him a sorry glance but then nudges him forwards. I stifle a snort. He climbs up unsteadily. Moline asks for volunteers. No one does, obviously. She motions for us to shake hands. His are sticky and sweaty. I wipe my hands on my dress immediately, analyzing him. He has an okay build, I guess, but he won't be able to handle weapons and he's only fifteen or so, meaning he won't have the edge of brains like me.

Our mayor recites the treaty of treason and then we're taken to the Justice Building for our goodbyes. Not that anyone will come to see me.

I'm surprised. Jerome, the head of my muttation class, opens the door and starts speaking to me, never one to waste time. "Listen, Rio. First off, not many people in District 5 will be unhappy to see you go, as you spend most time in the labs, meaning you don't know that many people, and you have a... erm... reputation. But I want you to know that you'll be missed in the labs and that we're continuing those mutts you thought up, the lizard ones. They're far from done, of course. President Snow wanted some mutts that targeted psychology, but we're using your plan for the physical body structure." I'm taken aback and flattered. My work paid off, and there's a creature that my very own brain created.

"Thank you," I say. "I'll miss working for you." Well, sometimes I will.

"Also," Jerome says. "You should know that while the odds don't look in your favour, you're one of the smartest people I've taught and you could make it. Alright?" I nod and we shake hands. Then he heads out the door.

I'm not expecting any more visitors, but then Ashlie walks in. We've hated each other for a long time, so why would she be here?

"Rio."

"Ashlie."

"You know I don't like you, Rio, but try not to die, alright?" I look at her in shock. She rolls her eyes. "Look, no one, even you, doesn't deserve to die like this. If you know someone, no matter how you feel about them, you don't want to watch them be killed. So, see you soon, hopefully. Play it smart, Rio. Do what you're best at." Then she walks out the door.

I didn't expect that, but her little brother did die last year. I guess that changed her thoughts on anyone who's condemned to slaughter.

Too soon, a peacekeeper comes and gets me and I board the train, looking at my home one last time before the engine starts going and I'm whisked off to my death.


	2. The Train

Moline walks up to me. "Hello, Riona!"

"Rio, actually," I say quietly. I don't like being called Riona. My name wasn't supposed to be Rio, but my parents abandoned me and then went off and died or something, I don't know, leaving me all alone. To steal. To find work. To live in foster care until I could work for the muttation group. The very most rebellious thing I can do is not let people call me by the name they wanted.

"Yes, Rio!" she grins. "As you may know, we're not too far from the Capitol, so we'll be there by tomorrow morning. Your room, as well as Timothy's, is by the end of the train car. Food is always available, so help yourself. Books are on the shelf in the television room, television programmes are always playing. Just be ready for dinner in one hour." I nod and head off to my room. Timothy follows me.

"What? I ask.

"Wow," he says. "I can't believe I'm here. I'm going to die. I'm going to the Hunger Games. I think I'm in shock."

"_Aren't we all," _I murmur under my breath.

"Well," Timothy says, "I thought you seemed pretty confident at the reaping, and, well, you get food for yourself. Everyone knows you steal. So... I was wondering if you'd give me a few arena tips."

I'm even more taken aback than I was when Ashlie visited me. I glare at him. "You do know we're supposed to kill each other, right?"

"Well... yeah... but the odds are that I won't last long and- and anything to extend my life a few days would help." He bites his lip.

"I don't know," I lie. "I'm sort of winging it as well. Just... use your brain." I disappear into my room, not wanting to tell him anything. Help has no place in an arena. At least, not as far as I'm concerned.

I step into the bathroom and turn on the shower tap. It's not like showers are unknown to me, but, I've only been in one once at the most. The warm water relaxes my muscles and runs down my face, plastering my hair to my head and turning it darker. It's like standing in rain.

I get out of the shower and step onto a mat, which dries my whole body- even my hair- in seconds, leaving it in a glossy red sheet, probably the nicest it's ever looked. Then I go into my drawers and find piles upon piles of clothing. I choose a pair of comfortable black pants and just throw a light coloured t-shirt over it, then tie my hair back.

At the dinner table, I see platters of food, more than there was in the entire kitchen at the mutt training lab. It's more than I could possibly eat; potatoes in butter, steamed carrots with honey, onion soup, thick bread, and that's only a quarter of the table.

I pile my plate with food and start eating, no, inhaling the decadent dishes. Okay, so so far some parts of the Capitol (ahem- the food) aren't so bad. I don't think I can get over that accent, though...

Tesserine and Jarden, the two victors that were picked as mentors this year, stop eating suddenly and look at us. "So," Tesserine says. "You two are going to the games in about a week. It's our job to prepare you the best we can. I'll be coaching Riona- Rio, sorry, as she's the girl, Jarden, you get Timothy." We all nod so that she knows we're following. I think I see Jarden sigh, though, because Timothy isn't exactly a fighter. Or a brain. Or even really a charmer, because at least that would get him sponsors.

"I think the first question is whether you two will be coached separately or not," Jarden says.

"Separately," I say quickly. A bit of pain rises on Timothy's face. "Sorry," I mutter. "But, you know, I think the best shot at survival, for me anyways, is to work alone." Before Timothy can say anything, Tesserine nods.

"Alright, then," she clasps her hands together and looks at me intently. Her eyes are a reddish brown colour, very unique, and her hair is similar. She's about thirty-five but I can see the pain and fear in her eyes and the way they shift around that suggests she's expecting someone to jump out and attack her. I know from my years of training it's because of the games, and she has something called PTSD, which stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It happens after a traumatic experience, and it makes it hard for your brain to focus on one thing at a time, because it can't ignore any information at all. I notice with all six District 5 victors the constant shift of the eyes, the frequent glances behind their backs, the nonstop fiddling of their hands. They're always expecting the worst.

"So," Tesserine says, "I'm thinking about an angle for you, which I imagine you don't mind if Timothy knows."

"It's fine," I say quietly.

"Well... No one knows much about you, and that's mostly because you don't want them to, correct?" I feel strange talking about myself in this way. I may have a high intelligence, but my EQ- my ability to interact with other easily and understand my feelings- is not as high as it probably should be. I've never really thought about myself before, but I guess now I'll have to if I want to have an interview angle. I nod.

"And you steal in the District." I nod at that too. It doesn't matter anymore. Tesserine thinks for a few seconds and then says, "Well, you're incredibly smart, kind of sly looking, mysterious, elusive... you understand my drift?"

"Basically you're telling me to avoid all the questions and then impress them in the arena?" She nods. I think I can do that. "Alright, then."

Across the table, Jarden's talking to Timothy about his strategy, but I'm not listening too intently. They stop talking and look up at us. Then Moline, who`s been trying all meal to join the conversation, says, `Well, why don`t we watch a recap of the reapings? We murmur in assent and head over to the TV compartment. Moline turns on the TV and the seal of Panem fills up the screen before cutting to the district one reaping. I request a paper and a pencil and then write down the names of the tributes, whether or not I think they'll pose a threat.

Glimmer Rambin (A/N: Get it, because the actor for Glimmer is Leven Rambin in the movie? Just wanted to point that out...) is tall and extremely pretty. She'll have no trouble with sponsors and being in a career pack will only improve her odds. I mark a star next to her name, then add her age- eighteen. The boy, Marvel, looks strong, confident and reasonably attractive but is only fourteen. No one's to be underestimated, but I don't check him off. My guess is he'll make it to the final eight, but not much more. Both tributes from 1 seem confident about being in the arena. I add that too.

In District two, an evil looking girl named Clove who grins as she takes her place. She's seventeen, and my guess is that the only thing keeping her from volunteering is the fact that she isn't at maximum age. Her confidence doesn't falter, even when she sees the boy tribute, a huge volunteer named Cato, take the stage eagerly. I put stars next to both names.

I don't bother with District 3. Both tributes are 13 and tiny, timid looking creatures. I wouldn't be surprised if they died at the initial fighting.

District 4 has the two classical attractive, strong career tributes. The boy is 18 and buff looking, though not as much as Cato and he doesn't look like the type to be strong with weapons, and the girl is 16. She looks strong but not particularly fast.

Then, of course, is our reaping. My name is called. I curse under my breath, because you can see the initial surprise when they call my name. Probably not enough to betray my elusive angle, but there's the flicker of fear in my eyes before it's replaced by my perfected mask. I feel a little bad when Timothy gets called because he looks so nervous you'd think he was about to faint. Beside me, his cheeks turn red.

Both of the 6 tributes will be bloodbath, I'm sure, so I don't check their names.

The same goes for the ones from seven, although the girl, Marina, looks like she'd be good with an axe.

8 and 9 have similar cases to 6 and 7. So does 10. I look and see that the boy is crippled and limps on his left foot. At first I feel sympathy but it's quickly replaced by relief because that's likely one player out of the equation.

In 11, a tiny girl named Rue is called. She's only twelve, and everyone knows that almost nobody under fifteen wins the Hunger Games. She looks resourceful, though, and sometimes the small ones are underestimated. For example, I doubt many people paid attention to me. A massive boy called Thresh is the male tribute. All I have to do is look at his build and I put a star next to his name.

Finally, we get to District 12. I wonder what tiny underfed kids will be in the pool this year. A small 12 year old girl with blonde hair and blue eyes walks towards the stage, hands clenched and face drained of colour. Then a girl who looks completely different yet still similar, who's about sixteen, a little bigger than I am, pushes out of the crowd desperately. "Prim!" she screams, in a strangled voice. "Prim!" She shoves some peacekeepers aside and screams, "I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!" There's some confusion on the stage- a volunteer for 12? Unheard of! She mounts the stage, ignoring her little sister, who's screaming, "No, Katniss! No! You can't go!" Another boy, perhaps their brother, pulls Prim off of the girl who volunteered. She says her name, Katniss Everdeen, and then they go on to the boy reaping. Someone named Peeta Mellark is called and he mounts the stage, but no one volunteers for him. The cameras train on Katniss Everdeen and I can tell she recognizes him. If Katniss Everdeen volunteered for the games, she must think she'll survive for a while. I mark a star next to her name.

Then the seal fills the screen once more, the anthem plays, and the TV is filled with fuzz. Moline flicks a button on the remote and the screen turns black. Then we head off to bed. I lie still, staring at the ceiling like I did this morning. I try to be confident like the careers. I have my notes on the tributes and I have my mind to help me. And Tesserine. She's one of the more stable victors.

The next morning I'm awoken by a rapping by a rapping on my door. It's Moline, because we've arrived in the Capitol.


	3. Chariot Rides

I'm sitting in a bathroom, completely stripped down, while three Capitol freaks- Esperanza, Esmeralda (they're twins) and Louis- wax me, bathe me in vile goo, and style my hair. I remember what Tesserine said. "I doubt you'll like what your prep team does to you, no one does. But go along with it. Promise?" I hadn't promised, but I hadn't objected, either.

In case you're wondering, they're remaking me for the chariot parades tonight. We never get especially good outfits in District 5, since you're supposed to reflect the district's industry; they're always some sort of lab coats or goggles. I just hope I have a creative stylist.

Finally, I'm ready to be dressed. I'm given a white robe and taken to meet my stylist. His name is Giorgino, and he wears ripped jeans, a studded leather belt and multiple ear piercings. "Hello, Riona!"

"Rio."

"Right! Nice to meet you! Well, we'd better get you dressed in your chariot costume, huh?"

Idiot. "I guess so."

"Alright! We're going for a science theme this year, but we don't want those unflattering lab coats, do we? No, we'll still have something like that, but it'll be a type of dress!" What?

"Um... okay," I say hesitantly.

Five minutes later, I'm dressed in a white dress that comes down to nearly my ankles, but it wraps around, slightly tighter in some places, which I guess makes it a little more flattering, but not really. My name is stitched onto the lapel and there's a pen sticking out of the breast pocket. My hair falls normally around my shoulders, but it's stick straight and actually quite nice looking. I wear black flats.

"Perfect!" Giorgino exclaims. "Look at yourself in the mirror!" I look at myself. The only decent part is the hair and the lab coat/ dress really isn't a success. I give a sigh.

"Well... thanks."

"Oh, you're welcome!" He beams. Let's go to the stables now!"

I go down and see Timothy waiting, wearing the same thing as me but his lab coat isn't a dress. He actually snorts when he sees me. "I can't look that bad."

"No, no, it's not that bad," he says. "But look at District 12."

I look over. They get black unitards that cover everything from the neck down and capes that are on fire. I can't help but give a tiny gasp. The fire is fake, of course; I've learned a little about the science. I wish I got their stylist... I don't want to make a fool of myself.

The District 1 chariot pulls out, followed by 2, then 3, then 4, and then us. No one bothers to cheer for us. I roll my eyes, jealous of the Fire Girl- Katniss- and her District partner.

We parade around the City Circle and then stop while the anthem plays. The cameras do a rushed cut of the 11 chariots and spend the rest of the time focused of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark.

The horses take us to the bottom floor of training center. In the lobby waits Jarden, Tesserine, Moline, Giorgino, and Timothy's stylist. Tesserine gives me a sympathetic smile upon seeing my lab coat, then puts an arm around my shoulder and guides me to the elevator, which is jam-packed with people. We wait for people to load in before climbing in with the District 9 tributes and their stylists and mentors. I press the 5 button and the elevator shoots up then stops abruptly. It makes my stomach churn. Ugh.

We step out of the elevator and are in a spacious hallway. At one end are four bedrooms, for the mentors and the tributes. There is a dining room at the other end.

We walk over to the dining room to eat dinner. There is even more food than on the train, which is saying something. District 5 isn't a poor District, but it's tough if you don't have parents.

I eat roast pork with thick warm gravy, mashed potatoes, and peas, not bothering to share like I did at the science training center. There's more than enough to go around, even if I gorge myself.

We watch the chariot rides live. The District 12 tributes-Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark-are of course the most dazzling of all in their fake fire costumes. Even I don't really pay attention to me, except to check how I looked. I appear bored, sort of nonchalant, and like I'm better than everyone there. At the same time, I sort of have this look that suggests I know something that they don't. I have no idea what that something would be, but I look good anyway.

After we watch the chariot parades, I'm directed by Moline to my bedroom, where I wash off the makeup and peel off my stupid lab coat dress. I put on some light pajamas and brush out my hair, then climb into my huge bed and pull the warm covers over me. I stare at the starry Capitol sky. In District 5, you can see the stars better, because there isn't as much pollution. But I can still make out the constellations; Hercules, a hero in ancient times, the little dipper, the big dipper, Ryan's belt. A few years ago some archaeologists discovered some scrolls with the constellations drawn on them and the names written in English. They were taken to some District 5 labs for examination, and I got to see them. Ever since, I've been looking for constellations in the sky, even though I could've been doing something worthwhile, like stealing food or doing homework, for instance.

I wish I was back in my District 5 life. I knew who I was; the girl with the bad reputation for stealing, yet still one of the smartest in the District; the girl who lived at the science center, who created the lizard mutts and the idea that they hiss the name of their victim. I was the fox, the one that slunk her way around without anyone noticing. Now I'm not even considered human anymore. Did you realize that they don't call us people or kids or teenagers? They just call us tributes. The forms of gruesome, evil entertainment.

In the morning, I wake up at seven, since I'm so used to it after living in the science center, but no one else is up yet. I pull on some stretchy black pants and a grey t-shirt, then throw my mane into a ponytail. I walk down to the dining hall and, seeing tables and tables of a breakfast food, start helping myself to hash browns, eggs and rolls, and pouring coffee into a mug. I eat at the table watching the city skyline as the table fills up. When Tesserine gets there, we move tables to talk strategy while Timothy talks with Jarden. "So," she says, "First things first. Today is your first of three training sessions. I already know how smart you are, so I don't think you need to spend too much time learning what plants are edible or working on survival skills, though it wouldn't hurt. I also don't think it's very important to tie knots, so don't spend too much time there. Even the climbing walls- well, you're agile. What will really help you in the games is a weapon."

No surprise on that comment. Tesserine won her games with just a sword and a net and her wits. Oh, and the backpack she picked up at the Cornucopia.

"So pick up a weapon. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you can use it. And... well, we'll talk about your private session later. Go to the elevator, and to the button with the sword. It'll take you to the training center. I would bring you, but I think it would help your angle if you looked independent. Got it?" I nod, drain my coffee cup, and head over to the elevator where I find the button with the sword, like Tesserine told me. Timothy gets on behind me. The elevator shoots downwards, making me nauseous, and then jerks to a stop. I step out and pull open the large silver doors of the training center.


	4. Training

There are different stations set up around the large room. Dummies and targets are in one corner along with weapons, survival skills in another, duelling sessions in a third, and a climbing wall in a fourth. The trainer explains this to us and then we separate into groups. I go over to the knife-throwing station, because they look small enough to manage and Tesserine told me to get some weapon skills.

I grasp the knife the way the instructor shows me to. Then I pull my arm back, keeping my eyes on the target. I release the knife and it sails through the air and lodges in the wall beside the target. I throw again and hit the edge of the target. I try a few more times until, after about fifteen minutes, I finally hit the bull's eye. After a few more throws I practice a little with spears but they're too big for me to hold well. I'm okay with bows and arrows, but really what got my attention were the knives.

I go over to the next station and work with fires and look at which plants are and aren't edible, but I don't bother doing the test. Most of them I recognize. I scale the climbing wall in less than ten minutes and then I head over to the dueling station. There is a trainer there, working with that huge District 2 boy, Catie or something. I wait patiently for my turn and check out my competitors.

The District partners from 12 are working together at the knot-tying station, but the girl is looking longingly at the arrows. I can tell how badly she wants to shoot one. She must be an illegal hunter or something, and that's why she volunteered for her sister. She thought she could win, because she's good with arrows? Of course, I'm basing all of this off one glance. But then a new thought arises. What if she volunteered for her sister because she wanted to? I saw how desperate she looked, everyone in Panem did. Does that make her less dangerous, because she might be sacrificing herself for her sister, because she's someone who cares about people and won't kill? Or more, because compassion could make you friends and allies in the arena? I mentally put another star next to her name on my list.

The two of them head over to the spear station and I shift my attention to the careers, who are throwing knives together. The girl from one hits the bull's eye a few times, and so does the girl from four, though I saw her with those tridents. The boys from four and one, however, barely hit it. Their hands, I guess, are big and heavy and maybe their aim isn't as great. But the boy from one has some serious skills with a spear, and the one from four is a whiz with those tridents, like his district partner. The one with the real skill is the District 2 girl; she hits the target so many times that eventually she has to take her knives out because it's impossible to hit the center anymore.

The little girl from 11 is working on the climbing wall, which she scales much faster than I did. I can climb trees if I need to, but she makes me feel big and clumsy, which I am the opposite of. She goes and hits the target every time with her slingshot. She has good aim and could take down some animals, I guess, maybe get someone down and then try to use a knife on them, but what good is that slingshot going to be against Catie? Her district partner is working at the edible plants station. I watch as he goes over and chucks his spear at the dummies, skewering them through the stomach.

A lot of the other tributes aren't making a lot of progress with their training, though this one boy from district 9 has this pitchfork he's tossing around with ease, and the girl from 7 chucks her axe at the target over and over. I'll keep an eye out for both of them.

Timothy is working to get a fire started with matches, and when he finally succeeds, moves onto charcoal. He goes to the edible plants station after. Is that what Jarden told him to do? Go get survival skills and abandon the weapons, and just hide the games out? I feel kind of bad. Like Tesserine said, weapons are essential in the games.

I'm called up by the trainer, who analyzes me for a few seconds. "So," he says, "What weapons can you use?"

"Well," I say hesitantly, "I'm pretty good with throwing knives, but my best asset is my hiding and survival skills."

"Okay. Well, I'm going to teach you to use a dagger, but it won't be for throwing, you'll use it like a sword." He shows me how to grip the handle and then shows me the right stance. We spar for a while, and then I'm taught how to slash, parry, block, and a bunch of other things that I'm supposed to remember during a swordfight. I feel like I've kept up an okay fight, but eventually he gets his sword point at my throat.

"You hesitated," He explains. "When you have the shorter sword, always go in closer. I got you because you hung back."

We try again before the bell rings to go to lunch. I eat alone, scanning the crowd for tough looking opponents, but I only find Thresh, the careers, and possible the fire girl. The little 11 girl, Rue, looks weak with weapons but if her strategy is to hide it out, like me, who knows how far she could get in the arena?

I do notice, though, that Fire girl and her District partner are chatting, saying something about bread, or that's what it looks like. So she does know him. How will this turn out in the games?

The next two days pass similarly. I get a little better with daggers, but what I'm best at is the throwing knives. My other opponents don't pay much attention to me, thankfully. That's my best shot, to go unnoticed.

Then comes the day I wake up to Tesserine shaking me. "Rio, it's your private training session today."

I groan. "I don't know what to do."

"We discussed this," Tesserine reprimands me. "You're going to demonstrate your knife-throwing talent. You didn't have any experience with them on the first day, and now you can hit the target two of three times. Show them that you can learn fast."

"I thought my strategy was to lay low."

Tesserine thinks about this for a second, then decides, "It doesn't matter. You want to impress the Gamemakers. You can outsmart the players, even if they're paying attention to you."

Tesserine leaves and I get dressed. Then I take the elevator down to the training center and see all the other tributes standing near the door, waiting for the call. The careers have cornered the large boy from 11- Thresh- and seem to be asking him something. I immediately know it's to join the career pack. Who else would they ask? Thresh puts a hand out and shakes his head. The boy from 2, whose name is apparently Cato, not Catie, asks one more time and then the pack walks away.

The boy, Marvel, gets called and walks into the room to start his session. The numbers slowly trickle away until the girl from 4 gets called. No one returns to the room after the allotted fifteen minutes they have to impress the Gamemakers.

Timothy walks in and shoots me a nervous glance. I shrug at him and turn away, thinking about what I'll do. Eventually I decide to follow Tesserine's advice and maybe do the climbing wall as well.

I step in without even looking at the Gamemakers and head to the climbing wall. I don't strap myself in, because they need to see that I'm capable of climbing trees and rock faces without a rope. I grab onto the footholds and begin to climb, getting stuck once or twice. In total it takes about four minutes, not as good as I was hoping for. I climb down and select a knife. I set myself up, farther away from the target than I normally am. I release the blade and it sails through the air before impaling itself at the edge of the target. My face is tinged with pink. I throw the knife again and again, hitting the center on my third try. Then I head over to the dummies and practice with them, skewering them through the stomach with my knife.

I finally look up. The head Gamemaker nods appreciatively and then says, "You may go now, Riona."

I barely even react to hearing myself be called Riona. I'm thinking about the Gamemaker nod and I don't think I'll get a high enough score. What can I do to get their attention? It has to be something big...

Instead, though, I walk out the door, throwing the knife behind my back as I leave. I slam the door shut behind me and then step onto the elevator, pressing the 5 button and shooting up to my floor. Tesserine waits for me at the elevator. "How did you do?" I shrug.

"I guess I did alright. A six or a seven, hopefully."

She nods. "Okay, well, we'll see soon. Go get changed and then we'll have dinner."

I do, then I take a shower as well. I emerge from my room and walk into the dining hall, where we eat a quick dinner of ham and pirogues and then turn our attention towards the TV as the program starts. The anthem plays with the seal showing, then it starts. Since the training is kept secret, we're shown headshots and a score from one to twelve, one being the worst and twelve being impossibly high. The careers generally score between eight to ten, and the other players usually get a five, with some exceptions. Hopefully I'll be one of those exceptions.

The boy from District 1 goes first and scores a nine. The girl gets an eight, followed by the District 2 tributes; they both get tens. The kids from three get twos and the boy from four gets a seven. The girl scores an eight. Timothy's face shows and he gets a four. A few sympathetic looks are exchanged.

They flash my face on the screen and then a number forms under it.

8.

Eight! I was hoping to get a six, maybe a seven, but clearly they liked my skills. Timothy looks jealous but he shakes my hand. I turn back to the television, not wanting to miss anyone's scores, but I'm still thinking about my eight. It was nice to get a high score, but will I be noticed now? I try not to worry about it too much. I doubt anyone's paying much attention to me anyway.

The large boy from 11 gets a ten, which is no surprise. He's massive. Surprisingly, the small girl gets a 7, which is unusual for a 12-year old. They show the face of the boy Peeta, who comes up with an eight like me. I put a small star next to his name; usually District Twelve tributes get between a three and a five. Let's see what Fire Girl got.

Eleven. Eleven. Eleven!

How did she do that? With the arrows? You don't get an eleven unless you do something really out of the ordinary. I immediately put two stars next to her name and resolve to keep an eye out for her in the arena.

The program ends and we leave the room. I walk slowly back to my quarters, thinking about tomorrow. I'm going to be told exactly what to say and do for my interview and the next day I'm going to be lathered with creams and makeup and accessories and fancy clothes and then have to tell the Capitol about me and what I care about and what I did in District 5 and how I scored an eight. I'll have to open up to people, which is something I really can't do. I hope Tesserine can think up something good for me to say.


	5. Interviews

I fill my plate with eggs and ham and put coffee in a mug before sitting down at my table. The sun rises over the spectacular Capitol skyline. It's not yet seven, but I can't help being a nearly riser. The bell went off at quarter to seven each morning in the science training center, giving us fifteen minutes to be down at the breakfast hall where we would eat and then go to our first class at seven-thirty.

The table begins to fill up. Tesserine sits down next to me and starts talking, while Jarden walks in with Timothy.

"Okay," she says, "Your interviews are tomorrow, which means you need an angle, obviously. In the morning Moline will work with you about your interview form- when to sit and stand and smile and ask questions and all that- and after lunch we'll work on your angle. Tomorrow your prep team makes you wonderful and then you have the interview, obviously; after that, you're pretty much on your own, because the Hunger Games will have begun. Now, finish your breakfast. Moline will pick you up in ten minutes."

I shovel down the food and then stand by the doorway to wait for my escort. She struts down the hall, smiling. "Alright, Riona!"

"Rio."

"Right! Let's get started!"

She takes me down to my huge bedroom and pulls a long white dress and some four-inch heels out of the closet. "This, of course, isn't the dress you'll be wearing, but you get to practice in it! Wouldn't want you tripping all over the stage! Now, go change!"

She pushes me into the bathroom. I strip off my pyjamas and pull the dress over my head. It's too long, so it catches in my ankles. I put on the heels with some difficulty and almost fall over and break my ankle before I even get into Moline's sight.

I slide the door open and see Moline standing right there. "Alright," she grins. "I'm going to walk across the room and sit on that chair and you're going to wait here. Then we're going to do it together until you can do it on your own!" _Why is this relevant? _

"Um... okay." Moline walks across the room in a graceful, ladylike posture that I've never cared for. I don't think it helps my mischievous angle to be all prim and proper. Then she sits down on the chair, keeping her back straight and her head up. Her hands fold into her lap. Then she beams and walks back to me.

"Together, now!"

The rest of the time goes something like that. I apparently don't make eye contact, and according to Moline I pull the skirt up too high, which "doesn't look good at all".

Finally, I get to go and eat lunch. I fill my plate with spring rolls and dunk them in some sort of sauce. Moline goes to her room and Tesserine sits down next to me. "How was it?" she asks.

"Fine," I lie. Okay, it wasn't that bad... no, it was.

"Alright, well, the rest of the day is with me," Tesserine says. "We're going to work on your interview strategy. So far, you've been very unknown, even though some people may take note of your training score. You're going to want to direct the questions back at the audience as soon as you can. Don't even tell them too much about District 5, since other tributes might take note of your intelligence. Try to avoid the questions without completely boring the audience. Got it?" I nod and finish off my last roll.

"So, should we practice some Q&A?" Tesserine nods and we get to work. It turns out not to be too hard to avoid the questions. Avoiding is something I've done all my life.

We talk for a while longer and, before I realize it, it's time for dinner. "Well," Tesserine says, seeming satisfied. "I think that's good. Just remember this for the interview and you're all set."

We help ourselves to food just as Moline arrives with Timothy. Jarden walks in soon after. We eat in mostly silence and then just go to bed. I fall into a fitful sleep, already thinking about the arena that I'll be in, in just two day's time.

In the morning I wake up but stay in bed and order breakfast there, because my prep team's due to come in at any minute. Sure enough, Esperanza, Esmeralda, and Louis run in, more excited than ever to dress me. I'm given similar procedures to the ones before the chariot parades. I mostly stay silent as they chatter on and on about their stupid lives.

Finally, I'm done and Giorgino comes in.

"Now," he says, "It's only really customary to represent your district at the chariot parades, and we don't really have much to work with in District Five... so, you'll be wearing this dress!" Giorgino unzips a large white type of bag that I guess holds my interview dress.

I take the fabric in my hands as he pulls the bag off of it and uncover a pale orange dress that has one shoulder and goes to my toes. It's slightly sparkly in some parts, which matches the dust my prep team sprinkled all over me. I guess it would be pretty, but I hate dresses and this one isn't easy to walk with. Add to that the heels, which are at least as long as the ones in my closet that I practiced with.

My hair is brushed to my right shoulder and secured in the bag with pins. I'm wearing makeup, but not too much that you can't recognize me. "You're _beautiful!_" Giorgino exclaims. "This is perfect. People are saying, you know, that you look like a fox, and this dress is the perfect colour!"

"They're saying I look like a fox?" I guess that's what I am, a fox who slinks through the crowd stealing things and being unnoticed.

"Yes, something about your face... your hair, too... anyway, ready for your interview?"

I nod untruthfully and we go to the lobby where the other tributes are waiting. When the anthem plays, I get in line behind the boy from District Four and in front of Timothy. We file out the door and onto the stage. Lights shine on us, the anthem plays, the crowd cheers. We sit down in order, and then the show begins. The girl from District One goes first. I pay attention to each player's angle as they talk with Caesar Flickerman, the interview host. His hair scares me. It changes colour each year. Am I the only one that finds it a little strange?

The girl from 1 is definitely pretty enough to get lots of sponsors. The boy is strong and brave, the girl from two is charming but deadly, the boy from two is a ruthless, bloodthirsty... well, for lack of bad words, freak. But he definitely isn't all that smart.

My hands begin to sweat when the boy from District Four is called up. When his three-minute buzzer goes off, he walks back and I come forward. What am I doing? I have no idea what to say. _Just answer the questions honestly, without giving away too much of yourself. _

"Hello, Riona. And how are you?" Caesar asks, shaking my hand.

"It's Rio, actually. And I'm good, thanks."

I glance at the clock. Two minutes and fifty seconds to go.

"So, District 5 is very secretive about their work," Caesar tells me. As if I didn't already know. "But I think you could tell us a little, no?"

_No. _I glance at Tesserine, who's nodding subtly.

"Well, we do science and we make mutts for the Capitol," I say evasively. "I live at a school for science, we study gene splicing."

"And what would that be?" Caesar asks me.

"It's when you use..." I don't want to give away much. They probably already know I'm smart. "...Stuff to cut two types of DNA, then you put them together."

"Oh, and that sounds interesting," He says, already looking lost. I roll my eyes. Capitol people. "Maybe you can tell us a bit about your home?"

"I live at the science center. At sixteen, you do a test if you want to, and if you like, you can go live at the science center. It's ideal for me because I'm an orphan."

"So, you don't have parents?"

"No."

"Then how are you taken care of? Is this science place a school or more of a community home?"

"They give us breakfast and tesserae grain for free, but they're poor."

"So... how do you get food?" _Where is this conversation going?_

"I have my ways."

Just thirty seconds left.

"So, any thoughts on being in the arena?" He prompts.

"Well, there'll be tough competition, but there's always a way out if there's a way in," I tell him, hoping not to give an edge to any tributes. I will them to hear me telepathically. _I'm no competition... don't pay any attention to me... I'm just a fox who'll die soon..._

The buzzer goes off and I give a sigh of relief. I think Caesar might too.

I step back to my chair, in not really listening to Timothy's interview. I try to pay attention to the others, though. The tiny girl from eleven says that she is good at hiding and finding food for herself. She did get a seven in training. I won't count her out of these games. The girl from twelve is very giggly and is very good with the audience, even though it kind of seems forced. The boy is a natural, though. His give and take is easy, except for when Caesar asks him if he has a girlfriend back in District Twelve. He shakes his head unconvincingly, and when Caesar pushes him, he admits to having someone. Caesar asks why winning the Games and coming home to this girl wouldn't help him. Then he stutters out, "Because... she came here with me."

_He's in love with the Fire Girl?_ I rule out at least one member of competition. This Peeta seems like the sort to die for who he loves. He'll keep Fire Girl alive, surely. Add this to her skills with weapons or whatever she did at the Training Center, she's almost guaranteed to make the top ten, maybe even eight. But a new thought occurs to me. Is she in love with him, too? I look at her face. She's blushing and staring downwards. No, she didn't expect him to say that, but who knows what thoughts she's been hiding behind that tiny little District Twelve figure? She fooled everyone before her training scores came out.

I'm so lost in my thoughts that I don't realize the interviews have ended until we're back in the training center lobby. I guess there was some sort of commotion after Lover Boy's declaration.

I get into an elevator car and press the number five button. Timothy isn't there with me, but Jarden is. There are some stylists, along with the District 4 boy and Fire Girl. I'm crammed next to her. She's muttering darkly to herself, but I doubt she even notices it. "Why would he say... not in _love..._ should have asked me first... just some bread..." Just some bread? "hmph. All for the cameras..."

Besides the bit about the bread, I can mostly understand what she's getting at. Lover Boy told the Capitol audience that he was in love with her, which is going to play amazingly with them, raining both Katniss and Peeta with sponsors. Ideal. Though I don't think I could pretend to love Timothy.

I step out of the elevator and walk into my room, but Tesserine corners me. "You know how smart you are. Show them that you can outsmart them all."

I nod, looking into the eyes of someone I've learned to respect. "And... any cornucopia advice?"

Tesserine nods. "You aren't really resourceful enough to make it with nothing at all, okay? So try to get a backpack and a weapon, even a crappy one, it's better than no weapon. Just don't stick around for the bloodbath- and as a last resort, you can always steal. Got it?"

I nod again and then climb into my bed, dreading the morning. Eventually, though, I fall into a fitful sleep with dreams of arenas and hiding and death. I wake up several times.

In the morning, I'm given simple black pants and a t-shirt to wear, then taken to the porch that's just outside the dining room. Giorgino is there with me. Of all the people to wait with, he's the least preferable. At least Moline saw District 5 and knows that I had a home.

A hovercraft arrives and I step onto the ladder. A tracker is injected in my arm and I sit down for the ride to the arena. Fear bubbles up inside of me when I think about how I could be dead in an hour. But I refuse to let that happen. I notice an elastic sitting on the table and out it around my wrist without Giorgino or the woman who injected the tracker noticing. Who knows? If worst comes to worst, it could be my weapon.

When we reach the arena, I get out and step into the launch room. Giorgino opens a package containing my clothes. I pull on the black pants, green shirt, black jacket, thin belt, and the dark boots that will be good for running. Giorgino gives me some food and water, which I don't accept. He's saying some reassuring words, but I don't really hear them. A Capitol strategy for the games isn't an opinion I want.

I start pacing back and forth. Desert? Forest? Swamp? Meadow? Ocean? Where will I be thrown into? The best I can hope for is some sort of swamp or forest, or something that has good shelter. I pace until I'm told it's time for launch. I shake Giorgino's hand and then step onto my tube. It rises up and I'm in darkness for about fifteen seconds. I watch the world rise above me and hear the loud voice in my ears: "Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games begin!"


	6. The Bloodbath

**A/N: Hi I'm on Spring Break! Yay! And I get to go to the Hunger Games midnight release! Double Yay! I'm SO excited for the movie. Anyways…. Here's the 6****th**** chapter, I know it took a long time but there are only two reviewers so… oh well. **

**Ps- Sorry to all the other authors who wrote a Foxface story and think I'm copying them (radio-dammit in particular, I read your story like a day after I published this… by the way, it was really good.) … but really, search up 'The Hunger Games Foxface' and you'll get about a hundred results.**

The bright gold Cornucopia horn, surrounded by supplies, directly in front of me.. To my left, a lake, and, behind the lake, a steep downward slope with a never ending field of grain. To my right, front and back is a pine forest. Where the tributes are standing is a plain of dirt. I imagine this is where the Career tributes will make their base after the bloodbath is over.

Now that I have the arena mapped out, I look around to see which tributes are near me and which will pose a threat. The girl from District 2, Clove, is two tributes down from me. She looks at the boy beside me, I think he's from 10, and waves at him. He gulps.

She is kind of scary sometimes. I guess I have to admire her, though, with her talents and her confidence. Not that I would ever team up with her. Or hesitate to kill her if it came to it. But I guess that's what happens to everyone after the games have taken their toll.

Other than that, I can see Thresh from 11 about three tributes to my right. However, his eyes are set solely on the field opposite him and I doubt he'll try to get much in the way of weapons.

I spot a pair of knives resting on a medium sized black backpack and know that that's what I want to get- supplies and weapons sitting just thirty yards away. You may think I'm stupid not to realize that that Clove girl would want the knives, but I can see a pack of six near her and I don't think she'd miss them. So, my path to the weapons is clear. Now the question is, can I get out of there without problems, and how is my path to the forest?

I could run at a diagonal, encountering only the girl from District six and the girl from eight, possibly Thresh, provided that once my enemies get their weapons they don't immediately target me. I'm good though. I can be off my plate before anyone, I'm sure. So I'm ready.

Now I have about fifteen seconds before the gong rings. My stomach twists itself into an overly complicated pretzel like it did on the hovercraft ride and my palms start sweating. I could be dead in thirty seconds. Thirty.

I position my feet to run towards the bag. I crouch. I ready my arms. I can almost hear the countdown in the Gamemaker room…

_Bonnnnggggg!_

There's the signal to run. I'm off, faster than at least half of the tributes. Clove is just as fast as me though, and she snags the six knives just as I'm bending down to swipe my items. By now, the other tributes have gotten off of their plates and are heading out. It's complete chaos, but I can still make sense of everything.

I can see it all through the blur, even at the speed I'm going. I can see Clove's knife find its mark on the back of the District Nine boy as he struggles with Fire Girl for a backpack. I've grabbed my two supplies when I spot the District Sven girl pick up an axe and throw it at me. I instinctively smack down on the plain and the axe grazes my back, leaving a sting but not too much damage. I get up, still clutching one knife and my backpack. I can't tell how much time I've wasted but I can see that even the District 8 boy, who was the last to leave his plate, is grabbing a bag. The other knife I lost when I dodged the girl's attack, but I can't go back for it now. That would be suicide. Instead, I throw my remaining knife at her and make for the woods as if my life depends on it, which of course it does. I sprint through the woods, with the bag bouncing against my shoulders.

I stop, panting, when I realize it may not be the smartest thing to go deep into the forest where I'll have to find my own food. What if….. I could steal from the Career food supply. I could do it. Maybe it's best to stay on the edge of the forest, under cover, and I could see what the Careers are doing.

I walk back to the edge of my shelter and see that there are many tributes still fighting or trying to escape. Fire Girl runs by me, so fast that she doesn't see me at all. One or two others also shoot by, so preoccupied by the Career pack that they don't notice me. I laugh a little at that, then get back to business. I climb a tree- not something I'm amazing at, but I hang onto a branch and then pull my leg up. After maybe five minutes, I'm at the top of the tree and panting slightly. My tree climbing skills are going to have to improve in these games.

I sit down on a branch and unzip my backpack. In it there's a rolled up blanket. That'll be a big help, of course. Some matches. A water bottle, half full. There's also a pack of dried beef and two apples. Alright, that'll last me a while but I'll have to steal eventually. Now that I'm done checking out my stuff, I can head over to the Cornucopia scene.

I climb back down the tree and walk to the forest edge. I can see a few tributes still fighting, some talking, probably working out an alliance. I can see the girl from District 7. She's lying on her back with a knife handle and a small portion of a bloody blade visible sticking out of her. That was my knife. What does her family think? They know she won't make it, even though the cannons haven't fired yet. They must detest me. They know I killed her. I do too, and I don't think she'll ever leave me. Her face will always be there to guilt me if I win, because she is the first person I ever killed. I don't know how people live with that.

There are many other bodies, too, lying on the plain that I can't make out. I can't tell if Timothy made it or not; I can't pretend I ever cared about him but it's hard to see someone you know die, even if you don't really know them.

I skirt along the edge of the forest, watching the Careers finish off their alliance. A boy, I think from 6, had been caught up in the fighting. He tries to run now, with supplies on his back, but a spear from Cato stops him and he slumps to the ground. A girl from District 10 makes an attempt to reach the forest as well. Glimmer sends an arrow in her direction, missing- she's not much of a shot with those arrows-, and Clove expertly throws a knife at her side after that. Neither the boy nor the girl makes it to the cover of the forest. They both fall on the plain before the woods.

I try to control my emotions. I know I technically saw a whole bunch of murders at the initial fighting, and I killed someone myself, but this is different, seeing them killed and seeing the Careers act so casual about it. The reality smacks me in the face as I realize this is what we are _supposed _to do. I'm expected to kill people. Everyone else is expected to kill me. I don't know what to do besides spy on the Careers from the bush where I lie.

I can see that both tributes from District One survived, along with Cato and Clove from Two. There's no surprise there- these four tributes almost always make it through the first few days, as well as the tributes from Four, another Career district. However, to my surprise, the boy from 4 doesn't seem to be there. It's possible that he didn't want a part of the alliance but something tells me that he didn't make it. Careers tend to, well, take advantage of their advantages.

The District Four girl looks completely nonchalant about his absence. I don't know if that necessarily means he's not dead. Career tributes can be pretty heartless sometimes. They don't let anything get in the way of winning.

There's also a boy from District Three there. I'm not sure how he got into the alliance but he must have some sort of talent or he'd be dead right now. He seems to be explaining something to the Careers.

The biggest surprise is Lover Boy from 12 standing with the Career pack, clutching a handful of knives, listening intently to the boy from 3. I don't know exactly what his angle is now. First he pretends to be in love with Fire Girl, then he teams up with the Careers. And my guess is that the only reason they let him live is because he said he could help track down Fire Girl, the one who scored an eleven in training that the Careers want dead. Then…. He could have said he loved Fire Girl to get them sponsors. Then he could choose to mislead the Career group about her, and the audience would see how far he was prepared to go to protect the love of his life. It's actually a pretty intelligent plan. It's guaranteed to get them some sort of sponsors.

I watch as the District 3 boy walks over to one of the starting plates, holding a shovel from the Cornucopia. He digs up a mine from the ground by the plate and holds it up to the Careers. I can make out some of what he's saying.

"See? This mine has been deactivated. I know how to restart it. No one will be able to get our- your supplies. We use these mines all the time at home, we study them. I'll restart the mines, then set them up around the food, and you'll have no thieves." That is smart. Now it makes sense, why the District Three boy is there. The supplies will be almost unreachable to anyone except the Career alliance. And me, of course. I just have to memorize the mine pattern.

I shift my weight a little on one foot, hoping that they won't notice me. I don't think I'll be able to move until the Career pack leaves and I imagine that if I tried to eat, I'd be heard. I've barely eaten all day but for some reason, I don't feel hungry. The fear from this morning's chase still hasn't subsided.

The seven allied tributes divide their supplies into backpacks filled with various things; medicine, an extra coat, a sleeping bag, some weapons, until they're all stocked will everything they need.

I then watch intently as the Careers stack their food in a neat pyramid with the less important items scattered around the outside, copying the format they were in the Cornucopia. There are big plastic bins at the bottom of the pile and large burlap sacks full of apples. Smaller crates of food and supplies sit on the bins. Piles of weapons lay carefully stacked on top of it all. Then the District 3 boy gets to work. He reactivates all the mines then places them in shallow holes that are seemingly placed at random intervals. However, I doubt they're random; the mines are most likely placed so that if you stepped on one accidentally, you would die but the supplies would remain in perfect condition. It's one of the smartest arena strategies I've ever seen, even if it is one I can outsmart.

I kneel uncomfortably for another few hours until the sun starts to set and the anthem of Panem plays while the seal shows up on a screen in the air. Now I will see who the cannons belong to.

The first to appear is the girl from District 3. She's followed by the boy from 4, as I'd suspected. Next comes Timothy.

I'm a little surprised to see his face on the screen. Not surprised that he's dead, he's not much of a fighter, but it's strange to see him up there, knowing he's gone forever. He was all o had from home in this surreal world. He was my last piece of District Five, even if I never paid any attention to him. Even if I never knew him before the Reaping. Or cared about him much… whatever. I'd better move on. I don't want to miss any faces.

The next to come are both tributes from District Six. The boy is the one who survived until about two minutes after the bloodbath. Then is the girl from Seven, the one I killed. I replay the events in my mind. I didn't mean to kill her, I was only trying to defend myself and to slow her down. I didn't even look when I released the blade. I just ran, not realizing until later that she was my kill.

The boy from Seven is followed by the boy from Eight. Then comes both tributes from Nine, the girl from Ten who I watched die earlier this afternoon. Then the seal is back and the screen goes dark. What does this mean? I try to work out who's left and how it will affect me.

Both tributes from 1 and 2. The boy from 3… the girl from Four, me, the girl from Eight…. I think that leaves Fire Girl and Lover Boy, which makes ten, plus Thresh from 11. There's someone else missing. It's…. I know who it is. It's that tiny girl from District Eleven. That makes thirteen, which would be right, because elven people died today.

The Careers light up some flashlights and get up to go hunt, leaving their supplies, because, of course, they don't need guarding. At least, they don't they do. Of course, they don't know that I've been here the whole time.

Once the camp is deserted, I head off into the forest in search of a place to stay for the night. After some searching, I find a huge oak tree with large roots spreading out. In the roots is a hole, like a rabbit hole, but large enough for a Rio-sized human to get into. I grin to myself. _They say I'm like a fox? Alright, then. Let them think that. _

Before I fall asleep, I think about the killings today. The girl from Seven that I murdered. The two tributes that almost escaped. Timothy, staring at me from the screen in the sky.

I doze off, ready to get this day behind me…..

Then I wake up, hours later to the boom of a cannon. It has to be because the Careers have made a kill. They've been hunting all night. Nothing will stop them in the way of victory. And if I want to survive, I have to think like that.

I have to start playing this game.

**Day one…. Dun dun dun…. Tell me what you think about the chapter! It'll get more interesting in the next one. **

**~Sgarnett99**


	7. Stealing Is Easy

**A/N: Hi, I wrote a chapter! I'm trying to figure out what to do with the rest of her Games. Turns out I know why the books weren't narrated from her POV… Foxface is doing a lot of sitting and observing. Anyways, enjoy!**

After hearing the cannon, I don't go back to sleep, and even though it's not yet dawn, I don't really even feel tired anymore. Instead, I head over to the Career base to find food and possibly weapons. I just hope that this whole mines thing is easier to navigate than the District 3 boy made it out to be when he was explaining it last night. This will be one my few chances to get supplies because the Career camp is so big, they won't notice if a few things go missing, not when they have themselves to feed as well.

First, though, I dash over to the lake and fill up my water bottle. I was hoping to get some water purifying tablets in my bag but I didn't see any, so I guess I'll steal some.

I walk onto the plain, revealing myself completely and not liking it. Once I'm at the camp I inspect the ground. In the parts where the mines have been laid, the soil is slightly different. Instead of the hard brown dusty colour, it's a bit redder. It's also turned up a little. Okay, it'll take some memorizing, but if anyone can do it I can.

As a precaution, though, I take two rocks and toss them gently onto what I judge to be the safe areas to walk. As I thought, nothing happens. So I take one little hop, teetering on the tips of my toes. I look carefully at the ground before taking another. Then I come to a patch that I'll need to jump over. I look over, calculating how far I'll have to leap, then take the jump. I continue my little dance, weaving through the red dirt.

And then, before I realize it, I'm standing at the pyramid. I give tiny laugh of relief as I stand over all their supplies. I see at least a dozen knives- I'm tempted to take one, but I already have one and I don't want them to think any weapons have gone missing. I'll take one later if I need it. I loosen the top of a bag and find it full of apples. I take two of those. I open a crate that's sitting beside the pyramid's base and find it full of little bottles. I read the label and find out that it this liquid, as an alternative to iodine tablets, purifies water. You simply squeeze a drop in and stir.

I don't dare take anything else. Instead I put everything exactly where it was before and weave my way out of the minefield. Just in time. Dawn is breaking and the Career pack arrives just as I slide into the bushes. But I'm not quick enough. The girl from District Four turns and looks right at the bush I'm hiding in.

"I could've sworn I just saw someone in those bushes."

"I thought I saw something move, too," The District One boy adds.

I stay completely still.

Clove whirls around with a knife in hand and she meets my eyes, then grins. "There!" She yells, and I don't try to hide myself. Instead I get up and sprint for my life. The entire Career alliance is racing after me. I think this might be the end. However, as I'm racing along I realize something. They're bigger and stronger than I am, yes, but the seven of them can't cut through the woods at my speed. So therefore, the farther in I go, the easier it'll be to escape. I'm going through the woods so fast that several times I trip.

Eventually the Careers agree that they need to split up. They slow down a little to talk. "Quinn, Peeta, Cato and Marvel, you should go back. I'll stay here with Clove and Glimmer," the District 4 girl says. "We're too slow!"

I dive into a thick bush. Fortunately, no one notices me. The group agrees to split up and then the girls from 1, 2 and 4 chase after me. "Where did she go?" Glimmer, from District 1- wow, what a ridiculous name- says angrily, "I don't want to have to track her down again!"

Clove swears loudly. "This is your fault, District 4! We would've caught her if not for your plan to split up."

"I have a name, you know. It's Saleena. And no, we wouldn't have got her. We're too big and slow, especially compared to her."

"Whatever!" Glimmer whines. "She's probably running right now. We're wasting time."

"She's almost as annoying as Fire Girl," Saleena mutters, and they take off in the direction I would've gone if I hadn't hidden.

When the coast is clear, I pull some food out of my bag, realizing I'm starving. The chase, no food yesterday, no breakfast, it's all worn me out. So I drink my water, resolving to fill up my bottle after this meal, and then I eat an apple and some dried beef, being careful to save lots of it for later. I get up; wander a little until I reach a spring-fed pool. I dip the bottle in, letting it fill up, and put some of my purifying drops in and stir. I know I have to be on the move with the Careers after me, so I get up and walk in the direction I came from. Their camp.

It doesn't take long, maybe five or ten minutes, before I'm by the lake the, base, and the plain where the Games started, which means I've found my bearings again. So before anyone can spot me again, I slide into a thick foliage, better than my hiding place last time and lie on the ground. The boy tributes, Cato, Marvel, Peeta and I think it was Quinn, wait around until Clove, Glimmer and Saleena come back.

"Well?" Cato demands.

Clove shakes her head. "By the time we'd agreed to split up, she was gone." He turns on Saleena just like Clove did.

"We may have caught her if not for that idea."

She looks more nervous. I mean, of course she would, this is that crazy Cato who's probably not quite sane but still very, very dangerous. She could at least take Clove but if it came to a fight, I'm not sure if she'd survive an attack from Cato. Still, the District 4 girl holds her ground, giving the same argument she did to Clove.

"It doesn't matter," the District 12 boy, Lover Boy, speaks up. "She was too fast whether there was one of us chasing her or seven. She'll die eventually anyway. Why don't we just go hunt? We may find Kat- Fire Girl."

There are some nods and murmurs of assent and the Career group arms themselves with backpacks and flashlights for the evening, when it gets dark. I think about what Lover Boy said. That I'll die soon anyway. I know it's not true but it rubs me in the wrong way. At least with Cato or Clove, they're respected for being so talented. I know it supports my angle of staying unnoticed. But it won't be true.

I notice that only the boy from District 3 stays behind. He looks tired though, like he hasn't slept in days, which might be true. I hope he falls asleep, because that will be my only chance to steal any food. I won't risk a weapon this time, since I already took some.

Soon enough, the boy from 3 closes his eyes and lies on the plain. I could kill him now if I wanted to. But the Careers would hear the cannon and be back in but a second. So instead, I walk onto the plain and start my dance, remembering some steps, being guided by the red dirt with others. Lucky I memorized some, though, because the telltale marks are fading in some places which would mean death if I made a wrong step.

In the end, though, I make it to the pyramid, careful to take very little. I gently pull the lid of one crate full of canned food. I take a tin of beef stew on rice that will hopefully last me one or two meals. Of course, it would be better heated up, but there's no way I'm risking that. I've already been chased by the Careers once. I don't need them to find me again.

I've put the lid back on the crate, shoved the food in my bag, zipped it up, and am almost back into shelter when the District Three boy wakes up. I curse. I should know better than to invade the base when one of the Careers is there! Of course, this scrawny boy doesn't count as a Career- I would never steal if, say, Cato was there-, but he could yell for them or something.

He's on his feet immediately. "Look, Fox Girl-" Fox Girl? What kind of name is that? I'm used to being told I act or look like a fox. But is this what all the tributes who don't know my name are doing? Just inventing some nickname that involves the word 'fox'?

"What?" I ask, pulling my only knife out of my belt. "You wanna fight?"

To my surprise, he says, "no. I wanted to say, I don't need any trouble. There's enough killing going on. I mean look, it's day two and half of us are already dead. And frankly, I don't think I could kill you first. So go, take your food today. But if I see you stealing from here again, I'll alert the Careers and then you'll die for sure. Got it?"

"Sure, District 3. You won't be seeing me again." Of course he won't see me anymore. That doesn't mean I won't keep taking enough to survive. I head back into the forest, fill up my water, then walk into my den and settle down to eat some dinner. Well, I don't really have any idea what time it is, but who cares? The way I see it, I'm hungry, I have other food, and as long as I'm careful an unlimited supply back with my Career buddies. The way I see it, I've pretty well got it made as long as I'm careful and smart… two things I already am.

I stick my knife in the side of the can of food I picked up, then carve along the edge. I bend the tin lid and scoop the food out of it, eating gratefully. I finish half the can before I realize it and, sadly, I have to make myself stop. I don't want all my food to be gone by the second day. It's so good though… I start to fantasize about this one meal we had in the Capitol. It was these little rolls, they had raw fish, which seems gross but was actually really good, in the middle of the roll, and rice outside of that, and seaweed outside of that. And then you dunked it in this salty sauce **(A/N: sushi!)**… I'd better stop. Now my stomach is growling like there's no tomorrow. God, I'm stupid sometimes. I eat an apple, drink some water, and then tell myself to get a grip and fall asleep or something.

I do, but a few hours later the loud obnoxious anthem wakes me up. I hate that anthem. As if I need a reminder of the screwed up country I live in.

I guess I'd better pay attention though, because I want to keep track of the killings and all that. However, the only face to appear in the sky is the girl from District Eight. I guess she's the one the Careers killed early this morning.

I realize I'm so tired. The arena wears you out quickly, and the stress of not getting yourself killed is a lot to handle. I mean, I'm trapped in a forest full of teenagers whose job is to kill me. And my job is to kill them. Actually, speaking of that, I wonder who's left… I think I should try to make a habit of counting the surviving tributes each times a kill happens. Let's see. Glimmer. Boy from 1… Marvel? Clove. Cato. Scrawny kid from District Three- I think someone may have called him Quinn. Girl from Four. Me, obviously. There's the boy from District 10. Huge guy from 11, Thresh, and then that little pixie from 11. Then there's Fire Girl and Lover Boy from District 12, which makes twelve tributes still standing and eleven to die if I want to get home. And how will I kill them? Some, for starters, are huge and could well kill me first, like Cato, Marvel and Thresh. Some are just plain dangerous, no matter their size, like Clove and I'm not sure about the girl from 4. Glimmer is dangerous just for being in the Career group. Then there are the others- Fire Girl, District 11, I don't know about District 10- they could all be really smart, or just hiding it out.

I'd better get some sleep. Maybe I can sleep all through tomorrow, although no one died today and if the pace doesn't pick up by tomorrow, the Gamemakers will step in and liven things up a bit. So I lie down on the ground, trying to find a place without roots sticking out of it- and unroll my blanket and pull it over me. Before I know it, I'm asleep again. It's good I don't snore.

When I wake up, the sun is streaming into the opening in my cave. It's bright morning sun, but I've got a feeling that it's later than I think. I poke my head out and look directly in the sun- I don't know if you've ever done that before, but it hurts- and decide it's about ten AM. I slept way later than I used to. Oh well. I'm protected in here, and I've got food anyway. So I eat the other half of my tin of food, which tastes weird for breakfast, and gulp down my last few drops of water. I guess I'd better fill that up.

With a sigh, I pull my blanket off, roll it up, stuff it in my backpack. Then I put my knife into my belt and head out. I have to give a small smile when I realize how great my place is. It's near the Career camp- unlimited food. It's totally hidden and safe. And it's right next to a water source.

I bend over and fill up my bottle, then squirt a drop of purifier into it. I stir it around with my finger, which probably isn't the greatest idea since my finger is already pretty dirty. Whatever. I gulp down the water gratefully- in this hot climate, it's not hard to dehydrate, which is annoying, because it's just another thing to worry about when it comes to my survival.

I get up and brush the leaves dirt off of me, then head away from my pond. I pull my knife out of my belt and realize that I might need it. After seeing Clove use her knife so well I'm afraid I might not be able to kill anyone with it. I'd probably miss or something like that- even though I did kind of skewer that girl from7. I experimentally throw my knife at a tree, my face falling when it doesn't impale the bark like I hoped. I go, pick it up, and grip it in the position the trainer showed me. Then I practice in slow motion, without releasing it. Finally I release the blade and it sails through the air, thudding into the tree. I pull the knife out of the tree- an oak, I think- and climb back into my cave. I don't know what to do. Only about one hour has passed, maybe even more like half. I could sleep. I try to. I find myself thinking about District 5 though. Thinking about my last morning there, when I ate those raspberries out of that ladies' handbag, right beside the electrified fence. If only I was there now….

Before I realize it, the anthem's playing and showing no faces. I eat three strips of beef. Then I fall asleep again. Wow, I must be tired. My dreams are nice ones of home. But when I wake up, I realize I'm not home. And I may never see it again. Because there's a wall of fire in front of the entrance to my cave.

**A/N: Muahaha! Cliff hanger! Well, not really, because you all know she lives… whatever. I'll have an update pretty soon. See ya! **


	8. Stranger In the Woods

**A/N: Hello to whoever's reading this! Right now I'm somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, flying home from Hawaii and I'm pretty bored, so I decided to write a chapter…. **

**I made a mistake. I said that Foxface lost both of her knives in the bloodbath but then I said she has a knife so can you just overlook that? Sorry.**

**I have a question. I usually get 2-3 reviews, sometimes one if it's not very good, per chapter, but now I'm lucky to get a review for every 2 chapters. One of my more popular (and longer) stories, which I should update, gets about 3 reviews a chapter so I feel like people just don't like this one as much. Like I said, criticism, comments, advice, ideas and encouragement are all totally welcome. Your opinions are appreciated! I'll continue with the story anyways, though. Thanks to Brigrove, Cynicz and Temple for reviewing….**

I knew something like this would happen eventually. There've been two days without a single death. The audience will be getting bored, and the Gamemakers can't let that happen. So they decided they had to step in and kick things up a notch. I doubt they'll actually kill anyone with the fire though. They'll try to drive us together. Towards the Career pack, lone tributes, or other dangers.

My first impulse is, of course, to panic, but I know I can't leave the cave. It doesn't seem right to just sit calmly though, as a fire burns through the forest. I don't know what to do until I realize something else. The fire isn't coming into the cave. It's passing in front of it. So actually, sitting calmly is probably the best thing I can do. I reach into my backpack and pull out an apple and two beef strips, which I eat, leaving me one apple and five strips of beef left in terms of food. Huh. Once this fire is over, I'll need to go stock up.

Speaking of, when will this fir be over? It started before I woke up, and the smoke was considerably thick, but is a fair bit thinner now, which means the attack will most likely be over soon. Which most likely means another tribute is nearby.

I sit for a while longer, wondering when the fire will end, when the fireball hits the tree.

Immediately the fire spreads, and I know that the Gamemakers know I'm in here. That they'll happily send my little cave up in flames. Because the fire won't pass around den in this case. I need to leave now. I shove my blanket in my pack, zip it up, then just run. I can tell a fireball's coming when I hear a hiss. Then I dive into whatever is out of reach of the fireball. I dodge the attacks for who knows how long, a couple times narrowly missing the fireballs.

Then something happens. A fireball lands right in front of me. I jump backwards. Then a hiss registers from behind. I jump forwards, to the right of the first flame, and that's what sets the fire to my arm.

I know enough to keep a level head. I fall to the ground and roll back and forth, trying to extinguish the flames. There was a fire eight months ago at the science center, and since we've had a couple of drills. I know what to do when my clothes catch fire. Rolling stamps out the fire, but my arm's still burning. I stagger over to the pond, hitting the ground every few seconds to avoid a fireball, and then rip off my scorched jacket and dunk my arm into the pool. It provides instant relief. In science class, I learned that the coolness of the water literally draws the heat out of your burn. I sigh in relief. The attacks aren't over, of course, but the Gamemakers don't seem to be targeting me. Uh-oh. That means there's another tribute close by. I just sit by the pool though, letting my forearm cool off. I try taking it out, which hurts. My arm barely skimmed the fire, but it was still enough to make a burn. Whatever. I have some time. I take my arm out again eventually, and roll up my blanket, drink some water, then lie back down. It seems pointless to do anything else- until I hear someone's footsteps.

I run into a bush, which I feel like I've been doing a lot, and watch as Fire Girl stumbles into the pool. After a moment, she seems to realize where she is, and sets her calf in the water along with her hands. I guess she's the one the Gamemakers wanted. Ugh! Why did she have to come along? I was doing perfectly fine in that pool before she decided to barge in. Whatever. (I feel like I've been thinking that a lot, too.) I get up- she doesn't notice me- and walk quietly back to my cave, which has surprisingly been spared. I clamber back inside with a smile and eat my last apple, resolving to go and steal some food. The Career pack will surely be out looking for weakened fire victims to kill, so this is the best time.

I walk through the forest to the Career base and see that, like I thought, the Careers aren't there- with the exception of the boy from 3. He is so annoying. However, he sits with his back to me, guarding for supply thieves. I look for a medium sized rock, but realize that the butt of my knife will do just fine. So I creep up behind the poor kid. He still hasn't heard me. Then I smack him with all my might in the back of the head. He gives a small yelp, but then his form crumples. He's knocked out.

I jump and hop towards the supplies, going slower because the mines are almost unrecognizable now. But I do reach the pyramid without dying, so I pick up three more apples from the humungous bag and another tin of food. I also take a pack of dried fruit from the never ending supply, as well as a roll of bandages. I should probably go now. I do my dance back to the edge of the pyramid, then wonder about how to wake up District Three. It'll be suspicious if he's knocked out, but if I wake him up this far from the woods, he'll alert the Careers, surely…..

I drag him over to the edge of the forest- he's small, but it's still hard for me- and then shake him. "Wake up, District Three!" I whisper roughly in his ear. "Wake up!" Then I sprint into cover. He opens his eyes, whips his head around, but I'm already gone.

I slowly climb up a ta tree, only to see that The Tiny Girl is already in it. But before I can either knife her or get out of the tree, she scampers away and I hear a rustling. At first I think she's fallen out, but I realize that she's just jumped out of the tree and into another one. I almost laugh. She can climb like a monkey, you have to give her that.

I look to the left, where Tiny Girl jumped to. Fire Girl is chatting with the Careers like they're best friends, although I notice her boyfriend is avoiding her gaze. I watch in wonder as Glimmer shoots an arrow at her, lodging it in the ranch beside her. Fire Girl picks up the arrow and waves it teasingly. Eventually the Careers just go to sleep and Glimmer settles down for watch.

The anthem plays- no one's died today, but the audience will be happy with the fire and the sight of seeing Fire Girl stuck up in a tree above the Careers- and Fire Girl starts trying to cut something, or at least that's what it looks like. I hear rustling again and decide that Pixie from 11 must be around somewhere. I don't think it'd be very intelligent to try to escape with the Career pack right there. So instead of making my way back into my den, I lie down in a fork in the tree, but it takes me about five seconds to realize I'll never be able to sleep up this high. So I slowly make my way down the tree, resolving to find a bush or something. It's okay, I can hide without climbing. Besides, foxes don't climb anyway. That's what they all think I am, right? A fox.

I find a shallow hole covered by a bush, and curl up in it. Then I pull my blanket over myself. I'm gratefully for it; it's a warm, dark green and fuzzy one. A sleeping bag would be better, I can suck it up. For what, though? This is the first time I ask myself the question. When I get back to District 5, my life will be plagued by nightmares of the arena. I won't be very useful to the mutt lab. I'll be just as messed up as some of the other District 5 victors. I don't know what my life will be like. I've heard, in passing, some of the stories about what President Snow does to Victors. Hiding and eavesdropping is my best talent after stealing only. I've heard what the Peacekeepers say quietly to each other in passing, the whisper passed discreetly from one ear to the next. A prime example is Finnick Odair of District 4. I've heard about how President Snow sells him to the highest bidder, with the threat of his loved ones over his head. No question, there are horrors that being a victor can bring. Still, I'm surviving for the moment.

So I fall asleep, waking up to the sharp feel of a wasp sting. Only this isn't a wasp….

||PAGE BREAK||

Not an ordinary wasp. That I know. Then the word registers. _Tracker Jacker. _I get up. The one sting on my arm already makes me dizzy, so I run. I receive one more sting and all of a sudden I can't tell reality from unreality. Here's what I'm fairly certain of: Timothy didn't come up to me and scold me for not saving him. The girl from 7 did not try to behead me with an axe, then fly away on angel wings. Fire Girl did run up and pull Glimmer's bow off her as she died. Lover Boy may or may not have appeared and screamed at Fire Girl. Glimmer did not turn purple and start spewing orange foam. The District Four girl did die in front of me; I heard the cannon. The girl from 4 did not come back to life and tell me I that I'm annoying. After that, I just blacked out.

When I come to, I'm waiting more nightmares, the ones that have been torturing me for hours. In fact, I don't want to describe them. But eventually I realize it's over and sit up. I'm slightly stiff. That's it. I think at least one day has gone by. Yes, that must be it. So I sit up, eat an apple, and think about what happened. Finally I come to one possible conclusion: Fire Girl must have dropped the nest on the Careers: that's what she was sawing last night. Two of them got me. Glimmer and… what's her name? Saleena? They both died. I'm not sure about anyone else.

Anyways, I just sit for a while, in my bush, until I spot Tiny Girl treating her sting. She grabs a handful of leaves from the bush, chews them up, and presses them on her forearm where I see the swelling. Once The Pixie walks away, I try it myself, giving a sigh of relief when the leaves calm the throbbing pain. Then I realize what I have to do. I need another weapon.

I walk over to the Career base, seeing that they're all asleep. I notice Lover Boy isn't with them. Huh. They each have several stings, which I can see even from my hiding place. Clearly they weren't smart enough to pull their stingers out. I can see Marvel, sitting quietly, spear in hand, head down. I watch as one single tear slides down his cheek. Of course. Glimmer, his district partner, just died. They were possibly friends. Even boyfriend and girlfriend, maybe. He looks up quickly to make sure no one saw his moment of weakness, brushes the tear away, sits up straighter, and grips his spear tighter. "Kill her…." He mutters under his breath. Somehow I think he's talking about Fire Girl, and not me or Pixie or Clove.

I sit for a while. It's clear no one is leaving camp right now, so I pull myself out of my bush. I don't dare stand up, but instead pull myself along the ground until I'm out of sight. Then I reach cover, get up, and walk over to my den. I sit down. Rearrange my blanket on the floor, sip some water. I think about snuggling down in it and going to sleep, but I realize I'm way too hot. Huh. I pull my coat off and lie down on top of the fuzzy green blanket, and before I know it, I'm asleep.

I wake up to the sounds of the anthem. No faces show tonight, which means Saleena and Glimmer must have died yesterday. Okay, well, hopefully there's action going on somewhere else, but with two deaths yesterday we should be alright for now. I fall back asleep almost immediately, wishing I could sleep all night and be awake all day. Whatever. I haven't died yet, so my 'plan' must be working, but for the second time I contemplate how good it would really be to be a victor. I push the thought from my mind though.

In the morning, I walk around a little, eating the last of my beef. Then I eat two strips of dried fruit and stop myself from eating anything else. I take the white bandages and tie up my minor cuts and scrapes. I haven't gotten any bog ones, but best to not take any chances. I practice throwing my knife a little more, and am just at the entrance to my cave when a figure steps out of the foliage.

**A/N: … who is it? ….. you can guess, but it doesn't really matter. I'll have a new chapter out soon. **

**Please review!**

**~Sgarnett99**


	9. The Kill List

**A/N: What to say, what to say… uh, hi? Enjoy? Oh, and I saw the Hunger Games movie, which was really good.  
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I don't bother to see who it is, I just jump into my cave and pray that they decide to leave. "Hello?" A boy's voice says. It's not a familiar one. I stay still. "Come on!" The voice says. "I know you were there for a second. You jumped and hid somewhere. I don't even have a weapon. I just want an ally. Please?"

I see the boy, from District Ten, wandering around. An ally? Sorry, Ten, but I work alone and alone only.

And then something happens. Cato and Clove from District Two leap out of the clearing and are on him immediately. "Wait!" He yells.

I can only watch as they grin. "Hello, District 10," Clove says. "I wanted to kill you on that first day. Somehow, though, you got away. So I'm going to kill you now."

He gulps, like he did at the Cornucopia, and tries to run, but Clove's knife in the back of his leg stops him and he falls to the ground. Blood flows right away. She throws the knife again, and this time it slices across his left cheek. He cries out in pain. Cato laughs. I manage to hold my puke in. I don't admire anything about Clove anymore.

She throws a third knife. It sticks in his stomach. He doesn't cry out anymore this time. He's already given up, I guess. "Hm," Clove frowns. "I don't want to lose that knife, it's quite nice." So then she goes and pulls it out. He curls over. "Come on, Cato."

They stalk away, and the boy just lies there, staring at the sky. I slide out of the hole and hide in a bush while I throw up. How can they take so much pleasure in killing?

I puke until there's nothing left. Then I stumble back into my cave, just as a cannon goes off. I sit for hours, I'm not even sure what I do. But then I hear shouts from the Careers, get out of the rabbit hole, and see smoke in the air. I watch quietly as the entire Career group takes to the forest.

Now would be a good time to get my weapon.

I go, my face falling when I see that the red dirt is all gone. It's okay. I've memorized the pattern. I step. No explosion. Step again. Hop on one foot. Still not dead. Here's the patch where I have to jump.

I take a leap, realizing too late that I overshot. This isn't how I want to die! I squeal sharply, waiting to be blown to bits when I land.

This is amazing: I don't get blown to bits.

I stand up, hop twice more, and reach the food. Take a knife. A handful of apples. Another tin of stew. But that's when I hear a sound. My only answer is that it's that ox from District 11, and my head instinctively turns toward the drop-off where Ox is. He doesn't come, but it's better to be safe than sorry. So I'm out, carefully dancing back to the forest. I breathe a sigh of relief and eat an apple.

I'm just settling down, thinking about a nap, when I hear ten simultaneous cannon shots. Have I won the Hunger Games? Really? Wait. Marvel, Clove, Cato, District 3, Me, Ox, Pixie, Lover Boy, Fire Girl. That's only nine. So…. two more shots fire. Then it hits me. That's no cannon. The mines have exploded. Oh my God. I force myself to stay put. Because I hear yelling. The Careers have run back to their base. I wait around for a while, and hear another cannon. Either a stray mine, or a death. I bet District 3 will be gone from the Games soon, because Cato won't be able to stand it when he sees that his supplies have been blown up.

I eat a tin of stew and watch as the anthem plays, showing the boy from District Three, as I thought. Yes. He was so annoying.

Wow.

Three weeks ago, I wouldn't have ever wanted him dead. Ever. He did almost nothing to me. Ugh. The Capitol has all screwed us up pretty bad. I hate them so much.

Next is the boy from Ten. Seeing his image makes me want to throw up all over again. I hold my puke in, though, and lie down to get some sleep, and fall into a peaceful rest, leaving the day behind.

The next day is worse.

When I wake up, I walk over to the base and find a black, smoldering mess. I can just imagine Cato going ballistic, the other Careers trying to calm him. I can see Clove's furious expression. I start laughing. I can't wait to watch them struggle to get food. I walk casually into the minefield and poke around, finding some useful stuff. No food, of course, but I find a metal pot, a knife blade, and a spear. I stroll back into the forest and sit around for a while, knowing I'll have to be more careful about my food rations now. I have four apples, a pack of dried fruit, and two tins of food. Not very much. I lie around, honestly really bored right now.

I find myself thinking about the deaths. The boy from Nine, the first to die in the arena. The girl from Sven, the one I killed. Timothy, my District partner. Glimmer, once so beautiful, but then swollen and disfigured by the Tracker Jackers. The boy from District Ten killed just because Clove felt like it. The boy from 3, for letting his mines go off. Tons and tons of innocents. All dead.

I shake the thought from my mind. That's when I hear a scream.

I don't know why, but I get up and walk towards the sound. "Katniss!" The girl screams. "Katniss!"

"Rue!" Another voice, Fire Girl's, shouts. "I'm coming!" I watch as she sprints by. I follow behind her and hide, once again, in a bush and watch. I watch as Pixie, entangled in a net, gets speared by Marvel. I watch as Pixie screams, as an arrow from Fire Girl goes through Marvel's neck, as Fire Girl runs to her. As the two tributes whisper something that I can't make out, I watch again. A cannon fires, I guess for Marvel. And then I watch as Fire Girl starts to sing.

It's a sweet, soft song, one that has no place in this arena. A song about a better tomorrow, a soft meadow where Pixie will be safe. I watch as her eyes flutter shut. I watch as Fire Girl starts to cry, as Pixie's grip loosens on Fire Girl's hand. A cannon goes off. "Bye, Rue," Rue. She'll be a part of my list now. Then I watch as Fire Girl goes and picks flowers. What's she doing? Again, I just watch as Fire Girl wreaths her in flowers, covering the wound, braiding her hair, and then finally getting up. "We don't have to worry about her now," Fire Girl tells the birds, who are singing the song she sang. They must be mockingjays. Then she walks away.

I must have something in my eyes, because I'm blinking a lot, really hard. All I can think about is how Fire Girl put the flowers around her, sang to her, the tiny girl who didn't deserve to die like that. She deserved to live more than I do.

All of a sudden, I'm puking again. I hate the Capitol, with their stupid games and their twisted, bloodthirsty brains. The idiots that send us here to die, to kill each other. I hate them all. I hate them for killing my only friend, Amanda, two years ago. I hate them all. I hate myself for sitting and watching, for not protesting against them like Fire Girl did with her flowers, for wanting the death of the boy from Three, for not becoming allies with the boy from Ten to save him from the death by Clove.

I'm tired of sitting and watching now.

||PAGE BREAK||

Back at the cave, I eat a piece of fruit. My stomach isn't up for much more than that. The anthem plays. Marvel's face shows, and then so does Pix-Rue's. She shines in the sky for a while, and then leaves the world forever. I'm reminded yet again of the flowers, of the song, of my anger and of my insignificance.

The kill list just grows and grows. I wonder if I'll end up being on it.

The next day I eat, fill up my water bottle, and then sit around, wondering what I'll do. Oh. I know what I'll do. The boy from District Ten said he saw me jump into something. No more than a minute later, Cato and Clove appeared. So I have to move caves.

I slowly roll up my blanket. I put my coat on. I shove the food back into my bag, then put the three knives in my belt. With some difficulty, the pot fits into the pack. Why did I want this, anyway? And the spear, too… Oh well, I can carry it. I get up and slowly walk through the forest. My best bet is to be near some sort of pond or stream, like before. It doesn't matter about being near the Careers now. After some looking, I find a stream, full of fish- good thing I kept the spear. I find a little cave, not in the ground like before, but mostly covered by rocks. I can squeeze in though. It's not like I'm very big. So I'm just settling in when the anthem plays, no faces show, and then the trumpets go off.

So there's going to be a feast. Well, I won't be going to that. I'll just stay here, with my dried fruit and my fish in the stream. But then then the announcer is saying something very interesting. There has been a rule change in the games. What rule?

Then it hits me.

The romance angle! Are they really going to change the rules for that? Come on…..

Yup. They are, based on Claudius Templesmith's words.

Well, now I can start worrying about Fire Girl and Lover Boy. Oh, and Cato and Clove. It's going to be a miracle if I survive this thing.

**~Sgarnett99**


	10. An Invitation

**A/N: Oh my God. I got six reviews in ch.8! And 4 in ch.9! (Is it lame that I'm this excited?) Soooo…. It's back to school for me, sadly. The updates may not as often but I'll try to have them at least once a week.**

When I wake up, at first I've got no idea where I am. Why aren't I in my cave? Have the Careers kidnaped me? Are they about to kill me? Why haven't they killed me yet? Ah!-wait. Oh yeah… I moved caves yesterday because that District 10 boy said he saw me about a second before the Careers killed him. My panic goes away and I stand up, looking at myself.

I have a red burn on my arm. Two huge Tracker Jacker stings. So many cuts and bruises I can't even count them. Those are minor, though. I feel my back, fingers brushing the cut that was given to me on the first day by the girl from Seven. It's almost gone though. I feel my hair. It's half out of its original ponytail, tangled with branches, smeared with dirt, and in so many knots that are so big I don't even really want to count them. And I don't know what my face looks like, but it's probably no better. But you know what? Whatever. If I happen to get out of here- which I doubt I'll do- they'll clean me up. And if I don't, then I'll die. So thus, whatever.

I go over to the stream with my spear, and take my boots off. I step into the ankle deep water and hold the huge weapon steady. I wait patiently for the fish to come. And I wait. And I wait. And wait. Ugh! Why is this taking so long? All I wanted was a stupid fish and it's been three hours. Okay, more like maybe twenty minutes, but still. I saw some here yesterday.

My spear tip is poised downwards, ready to skewer any creatures, and my arms re getting tired, when finally one fish comes swimming by and I shove the weapon at the water. It catches the fish by the tail, enough to make the creature stop and thrash around. Then I grab it with my hands.

You may think that it's natural for me, working with DNA and animals and newly created mutts (worst job ever, trust me), and I'd be used to gross, slimy stuff. But no. This fish slashes around in my hands, slips out, and tries to roll back into the stream, when finally I remember how to deal with fish. I get the butt of my knife and whack its head a few times until it goes limp. Finally. Funny thing, I used my knife handle on the boy from District 3 and this fish, and my reaction was basically the same when I found out that they were dead. I wonder what that says about me.

I slit the fish's throat with my knife and attempt to fillet it, like they do in the kitchen at the grocery store. Not that I was ever supposed to go in the kitchen. Then I try to cut out some of its bones, which would make eating it a lot easier. After about an hour I have a bloody, somewhat bony, hacked apart fish. Poor fish. Now to eat it…. I wonder how risky it would be to build a fire. Too risky, probably. I know you can get sick from raw meat but I ate that raw fish in the Capitol, in those little rolls. I bet they cleaned them but what other option do I have? I really want to save my higher quality food for later and now that this fish is cut up, it won't last. So I guess I don't have any other option, really.

I bite into the flesh of my kill, which doesn't taste as good as it did with the rice and seaweed but is still edible. It doesn't take long before I've eaten about a quarter of the fish and I feel like I should save some. I out it into an empty tin of stew, which isn't the best way to save it but will have to do. I wish I had some sort of container or plastic or something. I'm beginning to resent Fire Girl for blowing up all that food and supplies- I bet there was plastic in their pile. Oh well. I eat one piece of fruit, then sit in my new cave and wait.

That's when I hear someone saying something, like they're calling for someone but they don't want anyone else to hear them. I hear birds mimicking their calls, then the voice falls silent. I couldn't make out what they were saying. Who could it be? My opponents are Cato and Clove, though I doubt one would be calling for the other, especially at this area of the arena. There is Ox, but he's in that grain field, or at least I think so. There's Fire Girl, and there's Lover Boy. Okay, so I bet that it's those two from12. Who else would it be?

"You here to finish me off, sweetheart?" a hoarse voice asks. I don't understand the sweetheart part, but Fire Girl and Lover Boy must have finally found each other.

"Peeta? Where are you? Peeta?" That's Fire Girl's voice.

"Well, don't step on me." I watch, amazed, as Lover Boy speaks from the ground. He's so well camouflaged that even I didn't notice him. He sounds sick, though, so I doubt he really saw me either, even if we were so close. I sink back into the cave as Fire Girl looks down and gasps

Fire Girl gasps and Lover Boy laughs. It's a croaky, ill laugh, but one all the same.

"Close your eyes again," She says, and then adds, "I guess all those hours decorating cakes paid off."

"Yes, frosting. The final defense of the dying."

"You're not going to die," Fire Girl tells him firmly.

"Says who?" the ragged voice answers.

"Says me. We're on the same team now, you know."

I should have known this would happen. Lover Boy was so convincing when he talked about Fire Girl that of course if one of them died, the audience in the Capitol would go berserk. I don't think anyone in the Districts would give a crap, besides maybe District Twelve. Not that it matters; I don't know how I feel about winning anymore.

I contemplate moving caves again, just to avoid being spotted but I don't think that would be the smartest plan. I have half of a raw fish, two tins of canned food, some dried fruit and some apples. It's little enough to survive with, especially because I don't know how far the Games will continue. I could maybe kill one of them if they both fall asleep, but would that be killing them with the risk of my own life in there? I don't want my death to be of starvation. It's probably more clever to just steal from them when I need to, because I can see that Fire Girl has a bow and I don't think she's been stealing, so she must be a hunter.

I let the day pass slowly, until the anthem's suddenly playing again. No faces today, but I'm sure the audience will be happy enough with the District 12 show. Actually, I have to be grateful for that. I finish my fish since it won't last anyway. I take my pack off my back but keep my grip on it, in case I need to run away fast. I curl up in my blanket and fall asleep in no time, overcome by fatigue.

In the morning, I wake up feeling more tired than usual. I can hear my neighbours talking. Wait. I don't have neighbours. I live at the science center. And why is my bed so hard- oh yeah. I'm in the Hunger Games. I forgot.

I push my hair- which I don't think will ever leave this knotted ponytail again- out of my eyes. I lift up my backpack. It's strange, because this makes my left arm very sore, more so than it should. I didn't do anything too tiring yesterday except catch that particularly panicky fish. Which wasn't actually that tiring.

I zip open my bag and pull out the pack of fruit. The funny thing is, though, I have a weird stomach ache. I don't know why. I really don't want to get the flu in the arena. I think about why I might have a sore stomach. What other symptoms? Okay, my arms were tired…. I stand up. My legs feel sort of sore. They feel really tired. I want to sit back down. I feel fatigue too, not the tiredness I've been feeling the rest of the time. This isn't dehydration either.

So what's wrong? I'm not going to pretend this is nothing. Everything in the arena is something. What did do? I ate raw fish yesterday, but that can't be it. I ate raw fish in the Capitol! So what's going on? I think back to my days in training. My days before that, at home. What did I learn about food poisoning at home?

….

I don't know. I don't know why I'm sick. It makes no sense. What do I do? Outlast them? I don't even know what's going on. I'd never even had raw fish before the Capitol. And I didn't get sick from that…..

_Dyphyllobothrium._

I did learn about this at home. I don't know how. They seem to cover everything at the schools in District 5. _Dyphyllobothrium _is a type of tapeworm. It comes from eating any type of raw seafood. What are the symptoms? Fatigue, tiredness in arms and legs, abdominal pain- I have all of those things. It's both preventable and treatable. But since I've failed in preventing it by not cooking or freezing the food, I have to treat it. But I can't. So what are my options? Outlast the rest? Die? I don't have any other ideas.

I give a sigh. Eating that fish was probably the stupidest thing I've ever done. How could I be so naïve? All meat can give food poisoning, right? Of course the Capitol probably froze their food for days and days to make sure none of their _precious _citizens get sick. I'm aware that I've been having second thoughts about winning. But did I really have to die from something this dumb?

I tell myself to stop thinking about how I'm such an idiot and start thinking about how to- Tesserine! Tesserine could send me medicine, right? Do I have sponsors? Are they watching me at all? It must be expensive to send medicine. I hope they're not sending medicine to Lover Boy. Because I bet he needs it…

I force myself to drink and eat a little too. I won't be able to keep it down for long though, so I don't take very much.

The next few days pass and I get worse and worse. I know my health is headed downwards. Plus, I have other concerns. How far away is the next Gamemaker intervention? I guess District Twelve is putting on a good show.

I get up and try walking around, which I've been trying to do. Just to make sure I still can. I push myself up on sore arms, bent double in my cave, and walk in circles. Okay, it's not easy, but I can walk at least.

"Tesserine," I whisper. "Please."

As if on cue, a parachute comes down. I snatch it up and find- I find a note. A note? I unfold it angrily and read. This had better be helpful.

_Rio,_

_I'm aware you have food poisoning. It isn't the worst of diseases. But you need a cure. I don't have the money for that medicine. Which I'm sure you are smart enough to figure out, right? I would have sent it to you otherwise. But think, Rio. Who _does _have the money? Who _does _have the medicine now?_

_-Tesserine_

Who has the money? The Capitol does? And who has the medicine?

The Careers. But their supplies are gone. So…. they don't have- they have backpacks! I have to steal from them! There will be medicine there.

That's when the trumpets begin to blare and I'm immediately at the entrance of my cave, making sure I don't miss anything. I hope it isn't another rule change.

He's inviting us to a feast, but he's saying that it won't be a normal feast. " Each of you needs something desperately. Each of you will find a backpack ,marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia at dawn. Think hard about not showing up. For some of you, this may be your last chance."

Then silence. It's decided then. I need something to heal myself. I guess I'm going to this feast.

**A/N: How was it?**


	11. The Feast

I start to prepare myself right away. If this were a normal feast, I wouldn't be going. But I think I need whatever medicine's in the backpack at the Cornucopia.

As I'm putting my knives in my belt, I stop and wonder why I'm going to the Cornucopia for this. I don't even want to live that much anymore. Not after seeing what you can only see in the arena. Why is it such a big honor to be The Hunger Games in the Career Districts? Are they all idiots? Well… if I'm going to die, I don't want it to be because I did something stupid. It would have to be of something they remember…

I continue to pack. I don't know how quickly I can get out of that Cornucopia. Well, not out of the actual Cornucopia, but- wait. Yes! Out of the Cornucopia! I can hide in the Cornucopia tonight! No one else will think to be there. I can be out of there quickly, because I'll already be near the backpacks when they appear. I wonder what the other packs have in them. I think, though, that I shouldn't take any- I don't want them following me, especially District 2. Okay, then. I can go to the Cornucopia now, and hide there for the rest of the night.

I shove everything into my backpack except my huge spear, and set off with difficulty. My legs are sore and tired. My stomach aches painfully. And I'm overtired too. I need whatever`s in that bag. Spear in hand, I creep through the woods, stopping short when I hear something scuffling around. It`s Fire Girl, camouflaging the entrance to her cave. She hasn't seen me. I consider sending the spear- positioned in my left hand- through her back, but if there`s someone I want to win right now, it`s her. For what she did for Pixie. So I move on silently, waling alongside the stream. Soon, I reach the edge of the forest. Cato and Clove are lying in a sleeping bag that`s been zipped open so it`s like a blanket. I guess they only have one now.

I step experimentally onto the plain. Cato and Clove don`t wake up. I take quick steps until I reach the Cornucopia. It's even bigger standing right in front of it.

I climb into the mouth and wrap my blanket around myself, realizing what a long night it's going to be. The Cornucopia is cold and its hard metal barely gives off any warmth. Why did I choose to stay here? I shiver violently. The temperature is just another thing adding to my discomfort. Sore limbs, sore stomach, fatigue, cold…. What next? Death may be welcome. No, no, no. Something's wrong Wh-why am I thinking like… hypothermia… coooold…

_Snap out of it! You don't have hypothermia! _I tell myself angrily. I'm going to sit in this Cornucopia until dawn, take whatever's in that freaking backpack, and survive until I can win this stupid thing. Or plan my memorable suicide. Or something.

I decide that I should walk around, get my legs to loosen up a little. As I stand up my spear makes a clanging sound on the metal horn and I cringe, peeking my head around to make sure Cato or Clove didn't wake up. Fortunately, they're both still snoring. I breathe a sigh of relief and slump back down, curling up in my fuzzy blanket.

The night wears on and on. It gets unmistakeably colder, but soon it does turn unmistakeably warmer, even if by only one or two degrees. The navy sky turns blue, and then a greyish dawn spreads over the arena. No, it's not daytime yet, but I need to be ready to run, and in my state, a warm-up can't hurt at all. I get up like I did a few hours ago. Walking in robotic motions around the inside of the large golden horn, swinging my stiff arms about.

I peek out of the Cornucopia and realize, with a lurch of my stomach, that Cato and Clove are gone. They could be standing right outside my 'hiding place'- but they probably would've killed me by now. They're probably hiding, waiting for the table to appear.

Speaking of, I'm ready to go, it's daybreak now, and the announcer- Caludie Temple or whatever- said that the feast would be at dawn. So…

Then there's a disturbance on the plain, and the ground shakes a little below me. I think an earthquake's coming at first, but it soon dies down and the table has clicked into place with a four backpacks on it. The ground has just stopped rumbling when I dart out of the Cornucopia horn. I snag the backpack with a five on it, remembering not to take anyone else's, and run away as fast as I can.

It hurts, because my legs, my stomach, my arms… they're all painful. My spear seems heavier than before- I drag it along in the hard-packed dirt, my hair whipping behind me. I stop as soon as I reach the cover of the trees and all but tear the zipper open. The backpack is so heavy. It's a medium sized one, as opposed to District 12's, which was tiny, and District 2 and 11's, which were huge. I wonder what's in it.

Inside, there is a small packet full of powder and a 2 litre water bottle. There is also a note. I unfold it and read the official looking text.

_Prescription for food poisoning (consumption of raw fish) _

_Try to drink 1litre of water per day_

_Keep rehydrated_

_Add powder to water before drinking and shake around. This is a medicine mixed with rehydrating solution_

_Over the course of the next 2 days, drink this bottle and consume the rest of the powder medicine (WITH the water)_

_-Gamemakers_

_74__th__ annual Hunger Games_

_May the odds be ever in your favour!_

**(A/N: The rehydrating yourself part is true for food poisoning. I'm not sure about the medicine powder but I thought the Capitol would give her a little more than a water bottle at the feast.) **

Okay then. That doesn't seem too difficult. I fold the note back up and unscrew the lid of my huge, thankfully full water bottle. That's why my bag was so heavy. Then I rip open the top of the powder packet and pour it in, robotically screwing the cap back on and shaking it around. Then I look up to see what's going on at the feast.

Lover Boy's not there- that's no surprise. According to his conversations with the Girl on Fire, he's got a seriously injured leg. I bet medicine is in their pack. Clove is on top of Fire Girl, taunting her and holding a knife above her lips. I can just make out Cato, lying in wait for the perfect moment to run in for their bag.

And I see Ox, barreling towards Clove and Fire Girl, but Clove doesn't notice him. I watch in awe as the huge tribute pulls the girl off of District 12 and flips her onto the ground. She stares up at him in shock.

Ox appears to be shouting, but I can't make out exactly what it is he's saying. Something about a little girl. Oh. Pixie.

"No!" Clove screeches. "No, it wasn't me! Cato! Cato!"

Why Ox would think Clove killed Pixie, I don't know. But he seems mad about it.

Then the rock in Ox's hand comes down on Clove's skull and she goes limp. I edge closer to hear what he's saying to Fire Girl. "Just this one time, I let you go. For the little girl. You and me, we're even now. No more owed. You understand?"

Fire Girl nods. Ox says something I can't make out, then District Twelve jumps up and sprints away into the forest. After that, he runs into his field, both large packs slung over his shoulders.

I see Cato run up to Clove. "No, Clove! Come on Clove, stay with me!" He shakes her a little and she gives a moan. I can see, from my spot, the dent in her temple and know her face will be up on the screen tonight, and she'll go to join the Capitol's victims.

Clove whispers to Cato, a few words that seem to have taken a long time to string together.

"It's okay, Clove. You'll be alright."

"Hurts…"

"I know. But it won't hurt soon. It won't hurt in a few minutes, okay?"

Cato grips Clove's hand and she sighs. "Promise?"

"Promise." I've never seen Cato act this remorseful, this human, in the Games, the training, the interviews, even the reaping. It makes me feel different than the other deaths I've seenit reminds me that the arena changes all of us somehow. Even bloodthirsty Cato.

It reminds me that no one-even the Careers-should die in the Hunger Games. No matter what they've done or how they feel about the Games before they start.

I wonder how many unimportant, going-to-die eventually tributes realized that. But really, I wonder who else realized that. The parents of the children sentenced to death? Surely. But what about the others? Fire Girl isn't unimportant. She defied the rules. Maybe she will defy some more later on if she lives that long.

I snap back out of my thoughts and watch as Clove's already out-of-focus stare goes completely blank. A cannon fires, then Cato shuts Clove's eyes and, slowly as if not to wake her, gently pulls her pack off her back. He looks down at her like he wants to say something to the dead body, then plants a quick kiss on her cold forehead. He gets up. A hovercraft comes, lifts Clove's body off the ground and carries her away.

Another gone.

"Wherever you are, District 11, you can't hide forever!" Cato yells at the top if his lungs. "I'll get you eventually!"

I gulp down some water, eat a half tin of food- I running dangerously low now, with three fruit strips and two apples. I threw my fish back in the stream after I realized I was sick from it. I'll get some berries or something tomorrow, I guess. I remember most of the ones Pixie was collecting.

Cato is sitting by the Cornucopia horn. Ox is off in his grain field. Fire Girl and Lover Boy are in their cave. Me? I'm sitting by the edge of the plain, watching the sun glitter on the lake. My thoughts are elsewhere though, wandering off. I don't try to bring the back. Who cares if a tribute appears to finish me? I don't want to live with the sight of that spear wedged in Pixie's stomach. With that District Ten boy lying on the ground, staring at the tree tops. With the image of Cato kissing Clove one last time before she left.

Walking back to the cave. Finishing half the water bottle. Looking at Clove's glare, staring me down from in the sky. Curling up in my blanket. Falling asleep. I'm not really aware of my motions, until I wake up to hear a storm outside my cave. And I have to get food today. Oh, great.

**A/N:** **So, not the greatest ending, but whatever, I needed somewhere to stop the chapter. Can you tell I'm a big Clove/Cato fan? & Clove is one of my favourite characters… **

**Well, hope you all enjoyed it! Ch.12 will be out soon. Thanks to all the reviewers, especially **

**Brigrove**

**Cynicz**

**& Kasey Marie**

**For reviewing like a few times!**

**~Sgarnett99**


	12. Battling

**A/N: Hello, it's a new chapter! Sadly, Foxface's life will be over shortly. Not in this chapter, but when she dies, that means the story is done :( (Well, it's sad for me at least) So yeah, enjoy!**

I know I need food, so I go out anyway. My jacket is torn up and half of the hood is ripped off, but it's better than nothing. I pull the coat on, zip it up, and pull on my backpack. I arrange the knives I have in my belt and grip my spear. Then I head out, stomach rumbling.

This was a mistake. That I know as soon as I feel the first drop of water on my face. It's almost hail. I can feel each bullet-size droplet land on my face. My boots make a squelching sound with every step I take as I march through the mud. I guess I'd better suck it up, though.

I remember most of the berries Pixie was collecting from watching her pick them. A few times I would see her walking by and taking a handful of dark red ones, like blackberries or something. I could get some of those. I also saw her holding these roots that looked plenty edible to me. I just have to find them. But where?

I follow the stream, walking on the small, slippery pebbles. It's better than the mud, which leaves footprints, and the rocks, which I don't want to fall on. The stream goes on longer than I thought, and I haven't still seen any sight of the roots or those berries.

The stream opens up after about ten minutes and, before I realize it, I'm standing by the lake, at the very edge of the woods.

Well, may as well start here. I see some of the leaves that come on those roots by the edge of the stream, and the berry bush is right over there. I'm certain that they're the ones Pixie was collecting. If my two best skills were stealing and eavesdropping, the next would be memory.

I dig a little, adding another layer of grime to the bottoms of my fingernails. Soon enough, I come up with the bottoms of those roots. But… but what to hold them in? I do have that metal pot, but- well, it'll have to do, I guess.

I'm kind of angry with Fire Girl now, for this whole supplies thing. That food was basically _mine. _Now, though, I have to find these roots and berries in the rain when I could be warm in my cave, eating cold canned stew. Humph.

It takes my numb, red fingers a while to pull the zipper open but I eventually do, and pull the pot out. I drop my roots inside and proceed to the berry bush and pluck one off. I pop it in my mouth, and realize that it does taste like a blackberry.

I pluck off a whole bunch and place them in my pot, too. Now I have a fair amount of food.

I see a frog hopping by, and knife that. I'm aware I got sick off spoiled food but there are little of us left so I could probably make a fire.

Now it's raining so hard that I can't see more than five feet in any direction, which makes me uneasy. Once I see a large, muscular frame in the distance and tense. So does the figure. It's like they're trying to make out what I am- a tree, a bear, a tribute… but then they- it, whatever, moves on. After an hour or so of collecting, I stop and wonder, for the millionth time, what it would be like to survive this. I don't want to remember Saleena's swollen body, Cato kissing Clove's forehead, the one tear on Marvel's cheek, Pixie wreathed in flowers… I don't want to remember any of it. I don't want to remember watching Clove's fear just before her skull got smashed in.

I don't want to be sold by President Snow. I don't want to suffer nightmares. Or paranoia or be crazy like that Annie Cresta girl from District 4.

Do I even want to live?

I kneel down, and eat a few berries. I don't care anymore about getting dirty. I'm already scratched up, my hair is plastered to my forehead, my face and hands are covered in grime. I probably look like crap. Whatever.

I get up, and start walking the direction I think is the way back to the forest-

When I hear footsteps coming from around there, maybe to the left a little.

I take off running past the lake, past the grain field, towards the woods on the other side.

And that's when Cato slams into me.

It's from behind, so at first I try to run, even though his hand is gripping my coat. I slither out of the jacket and turn around, smacking him as hard as I can with the thing that is in my left hand- my pot full of berries.

Cato swears and fingers me, clutching his left cheek. I'm off again. However, I'm forced to stop when something slices into the back of my right leg sending a stinging pain along my calf, just above my heel. I whip around. It's his sword-he must have thrown it.

Why am I even fighting? I just decided that I would rather die than live. My thoughts and my actions aren't connected right. It doesn't make sense- me going to the feast for medicine, even after seeing Pixie's death, me going out to get to get berries in the rain instead of dying of starvation. I don't have time to think about that now though. Besides, death by Cato, I think, would be too painful.

In the split second I hesitate, Cato knocks me over and is on top of me, sword in hand, pointed at my heart. In all the ways I wouldn't want to die, I think being run through with a sword would be one of them.

"Hey, Fox Girl," He grins.

"Cato," I manage, even in my position.

"So. We could've killed you that day, when District 4 saw you. We almost got you. And it would've been quick, you know. A knife from Clove, a spear from Marvel. An arrow from Glimmer, if she managed to hit you. But now, I can promise that it won't be quite as fast. It won't be just one stab, Fox Girl."

"And why not?" I ask him sarcastically. "You sure it wouldn't take up too much of your valuable time?"

"See? Part of the reason is because you're so annoying. Another thing is that I can't figure out how a little District Five girl like you survived this long. You think you're so smart, don't you, stealing from us, hiding in the Cornucopia. But you won't make it past today."

"Actually, I do think I'm pretty smart."

"Well, not smart enough to escape from me. Let's begin."

As the sword comes up in his hand, I realize something. My right leg is free. An evil grin spreads over my face. I bend my knee, and then, with as much force as my tiny frame can muster, I sack Cato.

Not soon enough, though. The blade still comes down, makes a cut my chest. It's worse than the one on my leg, which simply got grazed; this is more serious. The sword didn't go to my heart; no, it was more shallow than that. It hurts a lot though. Still, the kick was enough. His face contorts in pain, and he rolls off of me. I push myself up, shaking and panting, and run from him, clutching my bleeding chest.

"This isn't over, District 5!" He yells. I don't know. The blood still flows, warm and thick, out of my chest. I guess I really got stabbed, but I can't stop now.

I trip over a large root and start rolling down a hill, but I don't try to stop myself. I need to get away from Cato.

Branch after branch hits me in the face, and makes my cuts deeper. Opens new ones. I can't stop rolling, and I don't want to either, that is until I notice the rock in front of my face.

I try to get up, to stop, to do something, but the hill down to the stream is steep and all I can do is inch forward enough to not be bashed in the head. So my body smacks against the boulder, and the pain is too blinding. I want to give up, to let myself die, and eventually I black out.

**A/N: Okay, that was pretty short. How did you like her fight with Cato? You can tell me- there's a big blue button right below this… it says "review this chapter"! Easy enough, right?**

**Whatever, bye!**

**~Sgarnett99**


	13. Nightlock

**Hey, I think you all know what chapter this is… it's the chapter where Foxface dies. I've redone certain parts of this a few times, and tried to make the last chapter good, I hope it's well written! I hope you guys liked reading Rio's journey from District 5, to the Capitol, and finally into the arena. Enjoy!**

Music wakes me up. My torso aches painfully and my thoughts aren't connected right. I have no idea where I am, what I'm doing by this boulder. I see a face in the air and he's vaguely familiar… he's pretty big. Dark hair. Dark skin. Huh. Who is he? Where am I? I notice pain, and it's tugging at me again. Tugging at my consciousness…

When I wake up for real, I'm pressed up against a large rock, and my whole body is sore, especially my stomach. It's not sore like from the food poisoning- no, I smashed into a boulder or something. That wasn't very smart. How did this even happen? It comes back in bits and pieces. Cato crashing into me and knocking me flat. Slicing my calf with his sword. Me smashing him on the head with a metal pot. Bits of conversation…

"_Hey, Fox Girl."_

"_Cato."_

Then being stabbed.

"_It would've been quick. But now, I can promise that it won't be quite as fast."_

Me sacking Cato just as his sword came down, and not being run through like he wanted.

So we must have fought then, based on all those memories. I guess I got away after I kicked him. I must have started to fall or something, and hit this boulder. There's one more memory, too. Some sort of music or something, and a picture in the sky. Okay, that must've been the anthem. The face- well, it wasn't Fire Girl- it was a boy. It wasn't Lover Boy, who's blonde. No, it was someone with dark hair and a dark complexion. Oh, it was Ox. Thresh. From District Eleven.

"_Just this one time, I let you go. For the little girl."_

He understood. He found It. It is humanity, It is just. It is letting your enemies go because they did something worthy of being saved. Like covering a young girl in flowers after she was murdered. I haven't found It. Not really. Yes, I've thought about It. I've found It in my mind. But would I ever do something like that for someone? For the people that are my enemies?

Groaning, I roll over and stare up at the sky. The rain has reduced to a drizzle, and the sun is struggling to break through the misty clouds. I don't have my metal pot anymore, or any of the berries or roots I collected. Well then, that was a waste of a day yesterday. Or however many days it's been. I lost my coat, too, apparently.

Lifting my shirt up, I look at my torso with disgust. It's covered in one large blue and purple bruise that spreads across my stomach and over my ribs. I pull the shirt back down and push myself into a sitting position. That makes my ribs hurt a lot, which leads me to believe I may have broken some of them. I look down at my chest, face going pale when I see it.

There's a bright red patch of blood where Cato's sword hit. The blood is partially dry but still sticky and warm. There's dirt mixed in too, from who knows when. I vaguely remember falling or something, so that must be why. It stings but only dully.

I sit up and unscrew my huge water bottle, drink the last few sips. Then I lie back down, staring up at the sky again. I should patch up my cuts, get some food in me. At this point though, I don't care anymore about what happens. At the time, all I wanted was to get away from Cato and his blade.

The clouds clear and the sun comes out, heating the arena quicker than it should. I guess the arena can do whatever the Gamemakers want it to. So whatever storm was going on last time I was awake is over, and everyone will be out and hunting for food. So will District Twelve's tributes, who I think are nearby.

I gingerly stand up, wincing because my ribs are so sore and my chest is stinging again. I have almost no food left, so I finish it. Today, I steal again. But this time, District 12 gets their food taken. Not Catie. Cato, sorry. Whatever.

Walking hurts even more than just standing or sitting. I set off, hobbling a lot and feeling like an old lady, clutching my ribs and screwing up my face in pain as I take step after step. I don't even know where I'm going. Hopefully towards Fire Girl and Lover Boy.

Soon, two voices come into range.

"You need to move quieter. Forget Cato, you're chasing off every rabbit in a mile radius."

"Really? Sorry, I didn't know."

Okay, it is District 12. I listen as they talk a bit more.

"Katniss, we need to split up. I know I'm chasing away the game."

"Only because your leg's hurt."

They argue for a while and eventually Fire Girl sighs and points out some plants that Lover Boy can dig.

Excellent. They're splitting up.

Fire Girl shows her District partner a whistle, and then they split off their separate ways. I'm not stupid enough to follow Fire Girl and hope I can get some of her meat. No. However, this Peeta Mellark isn't quite as much of a hunter as his girlfriend is, and he doesn't seem to be as observant. Come to think of it, I don't know how he survived this far. Well, come to think of it, I don't know how _I've _made it this far. I don't even want to live. I guess I'm more impulsive than I thought.

I crouch low behind a large mossy log as he digs up roots, eats some berries. He walks towards the stream, leaving the dark red berries, apple and cheese that he has on a sheet of plastic. Well, that wasn't very smart. Poor him, he gets his food taken away from me.

I walk up quietly and regard the food. I take a berry and lift it towards my mouth, when I stop short and look at them again. The dark red skins glisten in the sun, turned almost purple…

I know what these are. At the science center, they taught us just about everything. One of the things they taught us about is poison- what it is exactly, how to use it, how to find it in natural resources.

This is nightlock. Guaranteed death upon eating it, but a quick and painless one. You'd be gone before it got into your digestive system, because as soon as your teeth break the flesh the poison enters your bloodstream and stops your heart. It shuts down your whole body.

Suddenly, I get an idea. What have I been looking for ever since I got reaped? A way out of the arena. Because even if I lived, I wouldn't ever really leave. Not mentally, anyways. I'm not stupid enough to think that my life would be great after I got out of the place. Which brings me to the next thing- I know I can't really win. Not really. I would be killed somehow, because a girl like me from District 5 just isn't made to get out of here.

Also, there are other people that should win- like Fire Girl. I'm smart enough to realize that she has a spark. Her costume, the fiery one, was a very good choice- because ever since her, a meek District 12 kid, cared enough to volunteer for death. Then she protested against the Capitol, by covering that girl in flowers after she died. And she's from a district that must hate the Capitol; they're so poor. She has the spark that could throw the country into rebellion if she dared to defy our capital city.

I look up, seeing that Fire Girl's boyfriend hasn't come back yet. I pick away at the cheese, not caring if he notices. It doesn't matter anymore.

I take a handful of nightlock berries too, and head away. Soon enough I'm out of earshot of District Twelve and hopefully Cato.

I hold out the berries and look up at the sky. I realize what I'm going to do- I'm about to commit suicide. It's strange to know how much time you have left to live. I eat the cheese and look at the dark red fruit. So deadly.

I give a sigh and lean back, letting the goat cheese melt on my tongue and closing my eyes. It tastes so expensive and so delicious. I've no idea how they got their hands on this stuff in the arena.

I can't make myself eat the berries, and it's not because I don't want to die. If I wanted to win, I would've found food somewhere else. No, it's because I'm missing something. I need to do something before I die. I need the Capitol to understand my choice.

I stand up, brush myself off. I push my hair back and clear my throat. Giving the cameras time to lock on me.

"Hello, Gamemakers," I say purposefully. "How are you all?"

I hope the cameras are on my face now that I've addressed the Gamemakers personally.

"I don't imagine you'll be broadcasting me live right now. But you'll want to be listening very carefully to what I'm about to say. Think hard about tuning me out."

If that didn't get their attention, nothing will.

I clear my throat once more, and begin my speech. I'm mostly improvising, but soon the words start to flow out of my mouth easily. I've been wanting to say them forever, and now, with my life about to end, nothing is holding me back.

"Ever since I got reaped, my life has been hell. You forced me onto that train, took me to your city and dressed me up. You paraded me around in chariots. You told me to make the audience like me at the interviews, told me to impress them in training, and told me to amuse them in this wretched arena. And to think this has happened for seventy-three other years, and no one has done anything about it. I had one friend. One friend in my friendless, parentless world. Her name was Amanda. You carted her off and killed her, and I was alone and angrier than ever. Well you know what? I'm tired of it. I'm tired of just going along with this stupid game, and I want to do something about it.

"In an arena, where survival is everyone's priority, it's hard to do the right thing. It's almost impossible. I know firsthand. Even when I decided I didn't want to live very badly, I found survival instincts taking over. I think a lot of tributes realize this. Especially after they've killed someone. So what I'm saying is it's hard to find It- It being doing the right thing. Would you like to know who found It? Well, Fire Girl found It, for one. When she covered Pixie in flowers after the young defenseless girl was murdered. So did that ox from Eleven, Thresh. When he let Fire Girl go for what she did for Pixie. Do you see a pattern forming? Both of them did something against your Capitol regime.

"Now it's my turn to do something that you don't want. I'm going to eat these berries on purpose. Oh, I know they're poisonous. But what do you want us to do? You want us to kill each other with only our own survival in mind. I don't think that's such a great thing. To live with the face of the kids you killed forever imprinted in your mind? I don't know why people want that. I also don't think that someone like me could topple your government to stop this. But a girl from District Twelve that's dared to do the things she's done? She just might be the thing to destroy you all. What do you think?"

I pause, giving them time to digest all of that. Nope, they sure as hell won't be broadcasting me live over Panem. But I hope they'll at least listen to me. I know Fire Girl will hear my cannon in a few minutes, see me lifted away, recognize the berries and assume I thought they were safe. I know Cato will guess that an arrow found its way into my brain or my heart. Or that the aftermath of his stab killed me. They'd be wrong, though. No. This was my choice. It makes me glad to think that I'm dying of my own choice. At least the Gamemakers will understand.

"Bye, world," I say quietly, putting the berries to my mouth before I can have any second thoughts, looking around and knowing that I'm making the right choice.

My teeth break the skin of the berries and I taste the sweet, tart flavour. Oh, how can something so deadly taste so good?

I swallow the fruit and immediately go dizzy as my blood flows more slowly.

As I'm dying, one more memory surfaces, of me running and Cato yelling. _"This isn't over, Fox Girl!"_

But Cato was wrong. It is over. For me, anyway.

Mt vision blurs, everything grows darker and darker. I can hear each of my thudding heartbeats before they stop altogether, and I slip off into an endless sleep. But not before I hear the distant boom of a cannon.

**Oh my gosh, it's over ! :'( I had so much fun writing that story and I've become really attached to Foxface now. If you're interested in reading more about her, I may upload an alternate ending to this story, starting at the scene right before Katniss blows up the food. (It'll be added onto the end of this story.) So don't think it's totally over quite yet!**

**One thing- I'm aware that Katniss thinks Peeta outsmarted Foxface with that nightlock. But in my mind, Rio is too smart and awesome to die just because she thought some berries were safe to eat. You don't have to like that idea, but I wanted her to commit suicide. So if you don't like it, than just don't bother leaving a review. Simple as that. If you do, I'd love to get some reviews :). **

**Thanks to all my reviewers so far, and thanks to all who added me or Foxface's Story to your favourites list, and for all those who followed the story until the end. Your support means a lot to me!**

**~Sgarnett99 3**


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